21 or 18? Rick Perry misses the mark on voting age

Texas Gov. Rick Perry campaigned in New Hampshire on Tuesday to tout his endorsement from Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., but it was the GOP presidential candidate’s misstatement of the voting age that caught the attention of reporters during a speech at St. Anselm College.

Perry, who during a recent Republican presidential debate struggled for nearly a minute to remember the third agency on a list of three federal departments that he said he wanted to eliminate, slipped up just as he was wrapping up his prepared remarks at his third of four events in the Granite State.

“Those of you that will be 21 by Nov. 12th, I ask for your support and your vote,” Perry said to a crowd that included college students.

“Those of you who won’t be -- just work hard -- because you are going to inherit this and you’re counting on us to get this right. The idea that you’re looking at a $15-trillion debt, that you’re looking at entitlement programs that will not be there for you if we continue on this path, is not fair to you and it’s not right.”

The minimum voting age in the United States is 18

And it was unclear which November date Perry was referring to. The general election is set for Nov. 6, 2012, and New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary is on Jan. 10.