North Carolina students bring 'Run to Vote' to Lincoln

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BY ZACH PLUHACEK/Lincoln Journal Star

If a high school group from North Carolina keeps its pace over the next few weeks, three students and two teachers will end up running about 20 miles each when they get home.

The group, “Run to Vote,” is on a mission to visit each of the 48 contiguous states. Members of the group stopped in Lincoln Sunday and got 372 people to sign a banner pledging to vote.

The group also asks people to fill out voter registration forms during their stops, and has signed up 200 people during visits to 25 states. 

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Steve Kirkendall of Lincoln signs a www.runtovote.com banner pledging to vote this November. Run to Vote is a nonpartisan voting drive led by students and teachers from Granville Central High School in Stem, N.C. (Eva Barajas)

Steve Kirkendall of Lincoln signs a www.runtovote.com banner pledging to vote this November. Run to Vote is a nonpartisan voting drive led by students and teachers from Granville Central High School in Stem, N.C. (Eva Barajas)

“For every person that actually registers to vote with us, someone from the team will run a quarter of a mile,” said Diane Hineline, a social studies teacher from Stem, N.C., which is north of Raleigh.

Run to Vote is traveling in an eight-person passenger van Hineline bought for the trip.

A fellow social studies teacher, Jonathan Williams - also the cross country coach - came up with the idea. The two teachers brought along students who are still too young to vote.

“We felt that we should take the opportunity to show them what they could do,” Hineline said.

They started off by heading south down the East Coast, then across to the West Coast before making their way into the Midwest. They plan to end their trip in Washington, D.C. So far, they have been on the road for about four weeks.

“I think everyone’s starting to miss home,” Hineline said. “We’re from a very small school in a very small town in North Carolina, and yet these kids are definitely going to make a difference just in what they’re doing.”

Reach Zach Pluhacek at zpluhacek@journalstar.com.