TRAVERSE CITY -- Jesse Brocklehurst attends school in the morning, works from noon until 5 p.m. and doesn't have his own car.
The chances he might make it to the polls Tuesday before they close, he acknowledges, aren't very good.
Enter Josh Veith.
The social studies teacher at Traverse City High School, where Brocklehurst, 18, is a senior, plans to shuttle as many as 60 registered student voters to their home polling sites during the school day.
It's the culmination of an effort Veith led during the past year to register every eligible student.
"It's my first time to vote, and I'm so excited," Brocklehurst said. "We're not just learning about one side of it. We're learning about every angle of every side we want to know about."
The idea formed when the teacher, who holds discussions about current events in his classes, discovered students were particularly interested in this presidential race.
And he knows the challenges many of his students at the East Bay Township alternative high school face: Some juggle school and work, some don't have permanent housing, some lack regular transportation.
So Veith reserved a school vehicle and grouped the students by precinct. He plans to drive between Traverse City and polling sites as far away as Kingsley and Williamsburg on Election Day.
"They need someone to make that connection," he said of his efforts. "For the first time, they see an outlet for their opinions and their anxiety and their anger."
Nearly 20 of the students met in his classroom Wednesday for a voting tutorial. Veith photocopied a sample ballot and explained straight-ticket voting, where to find neutral information about statewide proposals and polling times.
On the board, "6 days left" was written in red dry-erase marker.
To get started, Veith organized voter registration drives on campus last spring.
"He'd find us in the hall and just point us to the library," said Katie Curtiss, 18, a senior. Without it, "I don't think I would even have registered. I just wouldn't have had the motivation."
It worked. Their growing excitement has permeated even their class work.
Brocklehurst, for instance, has spent time researching the candidates and ballot issues -- particularly, the arguments against Michigan's stem-cell research proposal. He has to present that side in a class debate.
And Veith's students write letters to candidates, both state and national, every Friday. Some have received responses.
"This is a pretty easy year to teach social studies," he said. "I haven't had to encourage any enthusiasm. They've brought it themselves."
Added Curtiss: "It's awesome that the younger vote is stepping forth to do something about our future. It's not anybody else's but ours."
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