ABC News

At 18 years old, Jeremy Minnier can’t drink or run for president, but he can get elected mayor of his hometown. And last week, he did.

It’s a story to ease the mind of anyone who has ever wondered if their vote really matters. With only two dozen write-in votes, Minnier beat 76-year-old incumbent Virgil Homer for the spot as mayor of Aredale, Iowa.

In 2010 the town reported 74 residents; 32 cast ballots this year, so the teen got three quarters of the votes.

Minnier said he was surprised to hear he had won.

“I mean I knew about it a couple weeks beforehand that it could possibly happen, and they had an ad in our local paper that just said, ‘Write in Jeremy Minnier for mayor of Aredale,’” Minnier told ABC affiliate KAAL. He did not know about the ads ahead of time, but they seemed to work.

One town official was excited to work with Mayor Minnier.

“I’m looking forward to the new ideas being brought into the town by someone his age,”  Councilmember Rita Olson told KAAL.

“He has some great things on his agenda that he would love to accomplish. They are things that have been needed done in our town for a long time.”

Minnier, whose father was mayor before him, was realistic about what he could accomplish in office.

“You can’t please everybody, but we can all work together to accomplish one main goal.”