The effort to lower the voting age to 17 in Lowell is not dead, teen organizers said on the front steps of City Hall Tuesday.

Organizers from United Teen Equality Center, where the Vote 17 movement began, were hoping to have their bill passed before the formal state legislative session ended in July, but the deadline came and went with no movement from the House subcommittee where the petition has been lingering.

The teens and their supporters, which include local Lowell officials, are pinning their hopes on the Legislature’s informal sessions that go through the end of the year, and which do not require the attendance of all elected officials, said Geoff Foster, youth organizing program coordinator.

Organizers also addressed criticisms Tuesday that such a change should not be done just for one community by arguing that Lowell would serve as a testing ground for the state.

The home-rule petition asks state legislators to allow Lowell to place a question on the 2013 municipal ballot to have the city’s voters decide whether the voting age should be lowered to 17 for the election of Lowell city councilors and School Committee members only.