Reading High School Students Catch a Ride to Cast First Votes
ReadingEagle.com
Apr 23, 2008
Forty-three Reading High School students were bused to their polling places so they could vote in the primary election on Tuesday.
The transportation was funded by Democracia U.S.A., a nonpartisan national group that focuses on getting out the Latino vote.
About 250 students had registered to ride the buses to vote during the school day, said high school principal Wynton Butler, who assumed some of the others would vote after school.
Butler said excitement among students has been especially high during this presidential election.
The school has worked to pique the students’ interest by holding events such as a mock election and debate, and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, a Democratic candidate, spoke at the high school Sunday.
Butler said fewer parents nowadays are taking their children to the polls to vote, so it is good that they went today as a group.
“Hopefully, it will become habitual for them to do their civic duty,” he said.
