Every state except Delaware and New Jersey allows underage marriage in exceptional circumstances if one or more of the following circumstances apply:
consent of a court clerk or judge (sometimes the consent of a superior court judge, rather than a local judge, is required) consent of the parents or legal guardians of the minor if one of the parties is pregnant
if the minor has given birth to a child
if the minor is emancipated.
So, as of May 2019, in the 34 states that have set a marriage age by statute, the lower minimum marriage age when all exceptions are taken into account, are:
14 in two states: Alaska and North Carolina.
15 in four states.
16 in twenty states.
17 in eight states.
From 2017[33][34] to 2019[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] several states changed their law to set a minimum age, or to raise their minimum age.
In Massachusetts the general marriage age is 18, but children may be married with judicial consent with no minimum age limit.[43] In the absence of any statutory minimum age, one opinion is that the minimum common law marriageable age of 12 for girls and 14 for boys may still apply.[44][45]
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage_in_the_United_States
While child marriage is not socially acceptable in most US cities it is legal as per the above the laws permit it (varies by state and territory) and occurs in rural areas as well as cities.
I didn't read the article referenced but based on the quotes provided the writer has extremely damaging perspectives/rationalizations on Lolita. Lolita is not a fucking love story or a young girl's journey into 'sex work' or about 'consenting to exploitation' it is about CSA and psychological torture.