2,000 kids celebrate voting at Capitol

AP PHOTO Participants in the National Kids Voting Day event crowd onto the front lawn of the State Capitol Building in Lansing yesterday.

LANSING (AP) - Two thousand Michigan schoolchildren crowded the lawn of the Capitol yesterday for a rally to celebrate voting, as adult leaders stressed its importance for their futures.

"You have the power to change the government and make it work for you the way you want to," Secretary of State Candice Miller said after leading the crowd in a rousing chant.

Students, many of them wearing construction paper hats, toured the Capitol, waved flags, examined a new state Web site and boogied to a drum and fife corps. They picked up campaign stickers and picnicked on the lawn.

Astronaut Jerry Linenger spoke, drawing crowds when he arrived in a blue NASA jumpsuit.

Linenger, who spent five months on the Mir space station in 1997, described his flight into space, saying he could see the Mackinac Bridge from orbit.

"Training pays off, education pays off," he told the students. "You hope that the skills you learn, even as a child, will help you."

The rally was sponsored by Kids Voting Michigan, a nonprofit group that will also run a mock election for kids this November. Twenty-four Michigan school districts and about 155,000 students are involved in the program, Kids Voting Director Kathy Jackson said.

Jackson said most of the students at Tuesday's rally were from Detroit. Districts in Lansing, Saginaw, Port Huron and Flint also sent busloads of children.

Kids Voting USA, a national group that has been educating children about voting since 1987, says studies show participating students grow up to be more active politically. The group also says parents are more likely to vote when their children are involved in such programs.

As part of Kids Voting Michigan, children will be able to cast votes in their own voting booths on the same issues adults are voting on.

Thirteen-year-old Haile Peters of Lansing said his vote is already decided.

"I'm voting for Fieger," he said, referring to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger. Asked why, Peters grinned.

"Anybody but Engler," he said.

Ten-year-old Tracie Dunbar of Detroit said she liked the drum and fife corps best.

Asked why voting is important, she cocked her head thoughtfully and balanced her chin on the tip of her American flag.

"It helps you more in life," she finally announced.

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