Operation Ohio

Stephen Elliot, whose new book Looking Forward to It: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the American Electoral Process is just now out, is interviewed over at Newsweek about Operation Ohio, an initiative in which authors remind young college students in swing states to vote on election day.

Where’d you get the funding?
Well, there really isn’t any. We’ve done some small fund-raisers in San Francisco and in Berkeley. And then the “Future Dictionary of America” gave us $2,000, so we gave all the authors $250 for their plane fare. But we’re all staying at Julie Orringer’s house because her parents have a big place there.
Really? You’ve crashed at Julie Orringer’s parents’ house?
Yeah. Well, I had zero money when I asked the authors to do it. They were surprised to even get the $250.

Currently, Elliot says he has 30 authors signed up, but hopes to get 70 more.