Teenager Elected Mayor of Town, is he old/experienced enough? Options

[illumineering]

DETROIT (Reuters) - The teen who grabbed the national spotlight this week by becoming mayor-elect of Hillsdale, Michigan, after a write-in campaign didn't win by much.

Michael Sessions, an 18-year-old student at Hillsdale High School, won by a mere two votes over 51-year-old incumbent Douglas Ingles, instead of the 64-vote victory initially reported. Hillsdale County officials declared the final tally of 670 to 668 on Thursday.

Sessions waged a write-in campaign for election because he was too young to get his name on the official ballot before the filing deadline.

The unofficial vote count, announced Tuesday night, was skewed by the fact that voting machines counted every write-in vote as one for Sessions, County Clerk Thomas Mohr told reporters.

That meant ballots with only a stray mark, or those on which the candidate's name was left blank, were erroneously tallied in Sessions' favor, Mohr said.

Ingles could not be reached for comment on whether he plans to seek a recount.

Since Tuesday's election, Sessions has been in the media spotlight, with appearances on "Late Night with David Letterman" and several of the TV networks' morning shows.

In an interview with CNN from New York on Friday, as he shrugged off his tiny margin of victory, Sessions said he had wanted the top job in Hillsdale, a town of about 9,000 people, since early last year.

"We've got to revitalize the economy," he said of his hometown, where 160-year-old Hillsdale College is located.

He also acknowledged that it will take some juggling, between schoolwork and politics, to successfully complete his four-year term.

"I'll be a student from 7:50 to 2:30, and then I'll work on mayor stuff from 3:00 to 6:00," Sessions said.

"My only interest is probably the city of Hillsdale," he added. "I've never been a big partier."

Do you think a teenager who attends school is experienced enough to run a town? Why would a town elect someone mayor who has to attend school from 7:50 to 2:30? Devoting only 3 hours to city business doesn't seem like much time to attend to everything that a mayor needs to complete. Or, on the other hand, is it possible he might bring a fresh perspective to the position? Any thoughts?

[evanbunnell]

Well, I've always thought that age was irrelevant in most situations. True the 51 year old man probably has more experience, but if the kid really is interested in the well-being of the city, he's bound to know a lot about the town, the politics within the town, and politics in general. I doubt 670 people would have written him in if they didn't think he was capable of being a worthy mayor.

Expect more fun things for that town, though. Him being 18 means he knows what the kids want. Downside to that is that if something happens within the town that the kids don't like... he's going to take a ton of grief for it. I'm not saying that teenagers are emotionally unstable, because I've seen some adults that are fairly unstable, but most adults don't have to deal with personal jeers and snears from their peers. (No rhyming intended... but now that I read it over, it does sound kinda funny.)

It'll be interesting to watch.