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Should 17-year-old's be allowed to vote? DO NOT ACTIVATE

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    Teenager's push for lower voting age

  • Duration 2:31
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Well a group of teenagers -- standing up and demanding to be counted seventeen year old from Lowell Massachusetts are pushing to get the voting age for city elections lowered from eighteen.

To seventeen.

Why only line from our Boston bureau Molly.

-- John yet in exactly in this age of voter apathy.

A these teenagers are fighting for the right to vote because they don't have it and they want it and they want to be about -- -- say in what's happening in their own hometown of Lowell Massachusetts.

As you what do you want to do is -- have a say in the school committee have a -- -- City Council.

And to make this happen they're talking with their state legislators and also really pulling in the local leadership -- well.

They understand that they will be eighteen before they know what they expect to head off pursue an education and careers but in the meantime.

They want to leave a legacy of civic engagement.

Behind.

This is something that we want to do and something that.

Would be beneficial for us to start out kind of the start up apple could -- thing is voting with visual -- to kind of -- squash the whole culture of disengagement from becoming just say well this isn't you know we want now.

The right to vote at seventeen -- the -- use municipal elections is not easy the teens had to overcome some concerns expressed by the secretary of State's office about constitutionality.

And then this initiative still have to be approved by the state house the senate signed by the governor and then the measure comes back -- -- When they'll be citywide referendum in 2013.

The teenagers are getting a lot of support though particularly from their local leaders like the mayor's state representatives and state senator Eileen Donoghue.

Who praises the teenagers for fighting for something that many people take for granite.

For a number of years many of us bemoan the fact that nobody.

Comes out to vote and it's just a little lower voter turnout in this -- So it was really refreshing to have young people thing.

Let us -- In only 65% of Americans in general are registered to vote and in -- 2010 mid term elections.

A 45%.

Of those voters actually showed up to cast their ballots the number is even smaller for the eighteen to 25 age group.

45% of them are registered to vote just 21% showed up to vote in mid terms.

So these are fighting for -- -- -- A lot of people are taking advantage of and they want to get it before they even turning eighteen and they're hoping for some action by the end of the John.

Molly Line reporting from Boston Molly thanks.

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