North Carolina teen goes viral after registering people to vote while they waited in line at Popeyes

A North Carolina teenager is going viral online for his unique approach to help boost voter engagement in his community.

In photos being shared across the internet, 17-year-old David Ledbetter of Charlotte can be seen with a group of other people distributing voter registration documents and sample ballots to people as they waited in long lines at a local Popeyes over the weekend.

{mosads}Stephanie Sneed, an attorney who reportedly helped Ledbetter in the voter registration effort on Saturday, told CNN that she and the teen both thought of the idea.

“We had been talking about the great chicken sandwich debate. We came up with the idea to go to Popeyes because of the large number of people waiting in lines,” Sneed, who is also running for a seat on the local school board, said.

“We were seeing how long the lines were [at Popeyes] and figured we would try to go get individuals to vote,” Ledbetter told the news agency on Tuesday. “I was just hoping that the individuals would register to vote.”

View this post on Instagram

Today we were registering individuals to vote while they were waiting in line to try the @popeyeslouisianakitchen chicken sandwich. Make sure you’re registered to vote!✊ @sneed4schoolboard

A post shared by David L.L. (@dllegrande) on Aug 24, 2019 at 2:38pm PDT

“I like engaging with the community and I have aspirations with helping people and making society a better as a whole,” the high school senior CNN.

Although Saturday reportedly marks Ledbetter’s first time trying to register people to vote, he has already helped launch an organization, Imagine This.   

According to its Instagram page, the group aims to promote “college and career readiness by serving high school students throughout the community.” 

The news comes as Popeye’s chicken sandwiches have become a viral sensation in recent weeks, prompting longer lines and wait times for customers at a number of its establishments.