ABC News and News Radio highlights Vote 17 Teens' Campaign Progress
Vote 17 teen organizers were in New York City yesterday, sharing the progress in their campaign to lower the voting age to 17 in Lowell's municipal elections. ABC News featured Vote 17 in yesterday's articles, with comments from UTEC teens Carline Kirksey and Susan Le, as well as Lowell Mayor Patrick Murphy.
Just to give you a taste, here is an excerpt from the
When 17-year-old Carline Kirksey went knocking on doors around her hometown of Lowell, Mass. last summer, seeking support for a measure to lower the voting age, many of her neighbors were surprised to learn she wasn't just selling Girl Scout cookies. Nowadays Kirksey is walking the halls of the Massachusetts state house, lobbying lawmakers to allow her classmates -- kids too young to set foot in a nightclub -- to step into a voting booth and cast a ballot.
"We knocked on something like 3,000 doors," Kirksey said. "Some people didn't like the idea of letting 17-year-olds vote, but we got a lot of people to change their minds."
Kirksey and her peers, organized by the United Teen Equality Center, may be on the verge of voting in municipal elections in Lowell. If successful, they'll be the only 17-year-olds anywhere in the U.S. who can legally cast ballots in a government contest.
