Editorial: Clerk Leon Wright commended for teaching voting

We commend Van Buren Township Clerk Leon Wright for teaching students at Belleville High School how to vote. Year after year, for 12 years, Clerk Wright has gathered a few of his staff members together and overseen the transfer of official voting equipment from the township hall to the high school.
The student council election has real ballots that Wright has had printed with funds that have been donated. The students pick up their ballots and then use the voting equipment and become more comfortable with the process.
This year the election was on May 2 and 592 students who are freshmen, sophomores, and juniors cast their votes in this manner. He said in two of the election categories, the winning candidates won by just four votes each. He said that shows how important votes are and the students got to see that close up.
Those student voters that will be 18 by the November election were able to register to vote. There were 126 of them. And 52 signed up to work at the polls for the November election.
Wright said some of the adults who come to the polls don’t know what they are doing on election day. He wants that to change. He said he is hoping to put together an Ambassadors’ Program to try to get the students more involved in government. Thank you, Clerk Wright, for your service to this community.