Oakland County, Michigan, May 15, 2006 -- Birmingham, Mich. Retired voting machines once used to elect U.S. presidents will be back in action Tuesday (May 16) and Thursday (May 18) when Ernest W. Seaholm High School students use them to elect class officers.

The vote at the Birmingham high school is the first election with student candidates on machines recycled as part of Project V.O.T.E. or Voting Opportunities Through Education.

The program was created by Ruth Johnson, Oakland County Clerk/Register, after every community was mandated under federal law to retire old voting machines and replace them with a single, standard system across the county.

"This is very exciting, to see the voting machines find a new life in the schools," said Johnson, who will be at the polls at Seaholm tomorrow to watch the voting. "What a great lesson in voting and democracy for the students at Seaholm High School."

Schools across Oakland County are taking part in the project. In Oak Park last month, students at Francis Scott Key Elementary School used the machines to vote on their field day activities.

Ann DeBoer, advisor to the Student Congress at Seaholm High School, said she and government teacher Gino Perri thought the machines would provide students with a good understanding of voting.

It will be the first time most of their students will even be exposed to a voting machine, DeBoer said.

"This isn't a case of 'bring your class down to vote,'" she said. "This is as close as we can come to replicating a real voting situation."

About 1,000 freshment, sophomores and juniors will be voting. Polls will be open Tuesday (May 16) and Thursday (May 18) from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., in the school lobby and during lunch hours those days, 10:53 a.m. to 11:33 a.m. and 12:26 p.m. to 1 p.m. Johnson will be at the schools from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

"We have about 1,000 students eligible to vote, but how many will vote? We don't know," DeBoer said. "We've encouraged them just like election officials do - with blurbs and advertising like, "Vote Responibly".

Voting machines are still available. Teachers who are interested may contact Mary Alsup at (248) 858-0560 to find out which communities are donating their machines. The machines are free.

The media is invited to come out to Seaholm's election. For information, call Ruth Johnson at (248) 858-0560.