A band of Bay Area authors is hitting the road to help boost voter registration before election day. Instead of focusing on voters in Northern California, where a Kerry victory seems assured, these anti-Bush writers are bound for the swing state of Ohio.

Spearheaded by San Francisco author Stephen Elliott (Happy Baby), a team of writers, including Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius), Andrew Sean Greer (The Confessions of Max Tivoli), Vendela Vida (And Now You Can Go) and Anthony Swofford (Jarhead) will fly to Ohio for a series of campus literary readings built around voter registration drives. Ohio State University is the first stop, on Sept. 28, followed by Oberlin College on Sept. 29 and Cleveland State University on Sept. 30.

Elliott, 32, got the idea for Operation Ohio after spending a year covering this year’s presidential campaign, an experience he’s turned into his memoir, Looking Forward to It, due in bookstores by October. Reading about the anti–Bush concerts starring Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews and R.E. M., he initially thought he’d organize some bands. “But I didn’t have anything unique to bring to it, and I didn’t have any connections.

“But I do know a lot of authors.”

Read more of Edward Guthmann’s story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Visit the Operation Ohio website.