Mitt and Barack might be dominating headlines and leading the nightly news, but there's only one name concertgoers in Hershey will be interested in Friday night.

Dave.

But before the Dave Matthews Band and its two-stepping singer take the Hersheypark Stadium stage during the central Pennsylvania stop of its summer tour, volunteers with HeadCount hope to get concertgoers thinking about the upcoming election.

And even if they can't get patrons to shake the visions of Nancies dancing through their heads, volunteers hope they can at least get them registered to vote.

Since 2004, HeadCount has been holding voter registration drives at concerts and festivals across the country.

The nonpartisan grassroots organization has signed up 175,000-plus voters over the past eight years, according to a press release.

In addition to the Dave Matthews Band, the HeadCount volunteers are touring with Phish, Further and Wilco, hoping to encourage young people to fulfill their democratic duty by voting.

Groups of two to four volunteers have been assigned to each band, traveling to nearly ever concert on their respective tours in what HeadCount has dubbed "The Great American Road Trip."

At each stop the teams are joined by up to 10 local volunteers who fan out to register voters during pre-concert tailgating and man a HeadCount booth while enjoying the show.

Anyone 18 years old and older can sign up to volunteer at a show on HeadCount's website.The organization will be hosting drives at several concerts across the region, in addition to the stops from bands on "The Great American Road Trip."

Bernstein said that HeadCount generally confirms volunteers a couple weeks in advance of the show, but that there are often last-minute dropouts that local volunteers can help fill in.The organization also works with musicians to help make the election more culturally relevant, according to its website. Further's Bob Weir recently performed a free webcast on Yahoo! Music and participated in a roundtable political discussion with members of Brooklyn, N.Y. band The National.

To learn more about HeadCount and to register to vote or volunteer, visit HeadCount.org.

- SUSAN JENNINGS,
For FlipSide

If you go

What: Dave Matthews Band

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Hersheypark Stadi um, 100 W. Hersheypark Drive, Hershey

Tickets: $75, $56.50 and $40.75

Details: hersheypark stadium.com or 534-3911