ITHACA, N.Y. -- All aboard: On a 50-city tour to register young voters for the upcoming elections, the "Rock The Vote" bus tour stops in Ithaca on Saturday, Aug. 28.

The rockin' bus rolls to its first stop on the Ithaca Commons from noon to 4 p.m. Next, it will park on East Avenue on the Cornell University campus, near Goldwin Smith Hall, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. The last stop of the day will be at the Alice Cook House, the new residence hall on West Campus, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Rock The Vote is a partnership with MTV's campaign "Choose or Lose: 20 Million Loud" to encourage young people throughout the United States to register to vote.

The Rock The Vote bus stop in Ithaca is the first event organized in coordination with the Cornell Mock Election Committee, a student group that is planning lectures, debates and book signings during the fall that relate to the election season. Cornell Mock Election has united the campus political groups Cornell Republicans, Cornell Democrats, Democracy Matters and the Cornell Political Coalition in this effort. The effort also has adopted the Cornell Political Coalition's edgy slogan, "Lose Your Voter Virginity," to bolster college student registration.

The MTV campaign granted Cornell's Mock Election $1,000 to help develop youth-led, nonpartisan and teamwork-oriented voter registration projects.

"Students -- even Cornell students -- can affect the presidential election. To make that difference, they have to register. We as students have a voice in the issues that affect us," says Michael Zuckerman, Class of 2006, chairman of the Cornell Mock Election Committee. "We only have that voice if we register and if we vote."

Young people have an unprecedented opportunity to be the swing vote in this election, says Jehmu Greene, president of Rock The Vote, in the organization's press materials. "We plan to mobilize 20 million new-generation voters to go to the polls in November, and the bus tour will be a catalyst for bringing young people together to talk about the issues at stake, such as jobs,

health care and the war in Iraq. We know it will energize them to fulfill their pivotal role in the political process."