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" Sixteen-year-old Selena Gomez may not be able to vote yet, but she wants to get the word out on important issues involved this year&amp;#039;s presidential election. We chatted with her about her involvement with the UR Votes Count program. Learn more about the organization at www.urvotescount.com! TEEN: How does the UR Votes Count program inform the younger generation about the upcoming campaign and how are you playing a role in the organization? Selena: Obviously I have a voice and I have a lot of people who look up to me for my age, so I kind of wanted to use that voice. So basically, this campaign provides teens the opportunity to learn about the issues going on in the world like economy, national security, education, and everything. It gives him or her the breakdown of each candidate and shows him or her what each candidate has to offer. So, in my community we (kids) can vote and see that would win if we had a say. It&amp;#039;s just a fun involvement in the way that kids can get prepared to vote, because sooner or later, 4 years from now, we&amp;#039;re going to be able to vote and we&amp;#039;re not going to know what to do. This kind of prepares us in a fun way. TEEN: What do you think are the most important national and worldwide issues this upcoming election?  Selena: Economy seems to be a big one for me right now. I think that education is really important because I&amp;#039;m going through it right now. And people around me are, so that&amp;#039;s a big one for me. And global warming is another issue. TEEN: How do you think your celebrity status has helped propel your involvement and influence in the UR Votes Count program? Selena: It&amp;#039;s wonderful that I am able to try to spread good out there. I want to make sure there is good press out there and make sure I can use my voice like I said. I think that maybe the younger kids might not get this, but since they look up to me they might get into it, which I think is adorable. I&amp;#039;ve actually had 10 year olds come up to me saying that her and her older sister were learning about it. There&amp;#039;s a 10-year-old learning about presidential issues. It&amp;#039;s crazy. TEEN: Why do you think it is so important for teens to get involved and spread their voice on issues relevant to this upcoming election? Selena: Just because we are the new generation. We&amp;#039;re the next generation that&amp;#039;s coming up and eventually everything is going to be handed down to each of us. And when it does get handed down, we need to know what to do. With going to work, going to college, starting a family, issues that affect the world, rather than not knowing anything. I just think that it&amp;#039;s good to get prepared now. TEEN: With the influence of the UR Votes Count campaign, where do you hope to see your generation in the next four years, when it is your time to actually vote? Selena: I hope that we&amp;#039;re smarter and that we are more prepared. I&amp;#039;m not saying that it is now, but I just think that slowly and slowly we&amp;#039;ll eventually fade. And that kind of scares me personally, so I just think that I would want us to be prepared. TEEN: Your character on Wizards of Waverly Place is adventurous and unafraid to speak her mind. Your involvement in the UR Votes Count program is incredibly adventurous and inspiring. Because of this, do you find that you are similar to your character? Selena: Yes, in ways, but I don&amp;#039;t think that Alex spreads good when she opens her mouth. I think sometimes she&amp;#039;s kind of sassy, and that&amp;#039;s why I love playing her. She is very confident in what she believes in and stands up for it even though it may not be right. I think we are similar in that way. Other than that, I don&amp;#039;t think I could have the sassy quality. My parents would never like that. TEEN: Do you think that music will be a greater part of your career in the future?  Absolutely, I believe that music is a great gateway for me to share my feelings. And I enjoy writing and I enjoy playing piano a lot, so I am excited to get that next chapter of my life started. I know that it&amp;#039;s going to be soon and I&amp;#039;ll be able to explore that. I think my heart is in acting, but music is just an opportunity that I have been given and that I&amp;#039;ve always wanted since I was younger. TEEN: What is the best thing about working and developing your career alongside your best friend Demi (Lovato)? Selena: I think that it&amp;#039;s so nice to go through all of this with someone that I love and that I care about and that I can trust. Because we&amp;#039;re 16 year old girls dealing with things, like being afraid to go outside (because of the paparazzi). Things that are ridiculous. Our lives have changed since I&amp;#039;ve known her since I was 7. It&amp;#039;s just nice to have that support because it&amp;#039;s very hard to come out to L.A, we&amp;#039;re both from Texas, and not know anybody and not be able to trust anybody. TEEN: What new projects do you have coming up? We heard that a Wizards of Waverly Place movie might make its way to the big screen. Is this true? Selena: I said that I hoped that it would. I don&amp;#039;t know if it is. I think it would probably just be a Disney Channel movie, which I am totally fine with and I hope that it does go through. And I would love to have the opportunity to work with my cast on not just an episode, but a little movie of our own. That would be fun. TEEN: You recently sat front row at the Whitley Kros runway show at L.A. Fashion Week a couple of weeks ago. How do think that art forms such as fashion, music, and acting can be political? Selena: I think that they can be political. For instance I went to an eco-fashion show where all of the d\u00E9cor was organic. And I thought that was wonderful and so cool because all the pieces were really cute and when people think of organic clothes they think of cheap-looking kind of clothes. And I didn&amp;#039;t think that at all. They were beautiful. And music is powerful in a way that you can use your lyrics to get a message through, whether it&amp;#039;s about an issue that&amp;#039;s going on in a world or issues with yourself. And I think acting is one thing. I know that one of my favorite movies is Crash. That movie sends an incredible message out and I wanted to make sure that all of my friends watched that movie. It&amp;#039;s all got an incredible way and you&amp;#039;ve got to do it right. TEEN: If you were able to vote in this upcoming election, who would you vote for? Selena: That&amp;#039;s so hard and I don&amp;#039;t want to confuse anybody. I personally hate trying to say something because I don&amp;#039;t want to pressure anybody to vote for anyone. So I just say that my bottom line is to look at what each candidate has to offer, and look at which one draws your attention. I know that both candidates have great issues, but it is very hard. So, good thing that I&amp;#039;m not voting this year because it&amp;#039;s kind of hard. But I just try to keep it safe with that question. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/music/a11486/selena-gomez-interview-2/>