CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, May 24 (UPI) -- A high school senior has been chosen one of the Democratic Party electors and will vote in the Electoral College should John Kerry win Iowa in November.
Kiran Patel, 18 and a senior at Cedar Rapids' Kennedy High School, was selected for one of the positions as a state elector, posts usually reserved for party officials. Patel, however, campaigned for one of the spots using politically themed coloring books and fliers, the Des Moines Register reported.
Patel said she wants to use her new position to convince other young people to vote.
"It just has to be one of the coolest things on Earth, to be one of the people who actually elects the president," Patel told the newspaper.
The young woman has been interested in politics for some time. Her mother said Patel made her first campaign donation eight years ago with a $1 contribution Sen. Tom Harkin.
In the U.S. system, citizens do not vote directly for a candidate for president but rather a slate of electors who are pledged to a candidate and make up the Electoral College. The number of electors from each state is determined by representation in Congress and whichever candidate controls at least 270 electors is inaugurated president.
