By Paul Edward Parker | Providence Journal
Although both major parties’ presidential nominations are already sewn up, Tuesday’s Rhode Island Presidential Preference Primary will be exciting for 1,894 voters in particular: 17-year-olds who will be able to vote for the first time ever under a new law passed last year.
The law gives 17-year-olds the right to vote in a primary election if they will be 18 on the day of November’s general election. And 1,894 such 17-year-olds took advantage of the new law and registered to vote by the March 3 deadline.
“I actually think it’s cool,” said Atticus Thompson, of East Greenwich. “It gets more voters out, also.”