It’s become trite and tired for politicians and members of the media to call every general election in the U.S. “the most important of our lifetimes.” It’s a phrase that gets thrown around every four years, and at this point, it feels like it’s lost all meaning.
But there’s one woman who has some perspective on important elections: 104-year-old Ruth, who was accompanied on her journey to the voting booth by her friend Faith Salie, who recorded it all and shared it on Twitter.
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At 104, Ruth was born in 1916, which was before women even had the right to vote.
The first time she was legally allowed to, Ruth cast her ballot for Franklin Roosevelt, Salie shared. And she had been affected by the 1918 pandemic as well, losing her father to the flu.
Ruth has lived through a large chunk of history.
But when asked if this election in 2020 was the most important of her lifetime, Ruth didn’t hesitate to say yes, “without exception.”
“And I’m talking about the First World War, the Second World War, and every other election before or since. This is it,” she said.
Of course, Faith couldn’t follow Ruth into the voting booth.
There are rules against filming while voting, naturally. But Faith was happy to report that the voting process went well, as smoothly as you can imagine.
“Photos and videos are not allowed at the actual voting site,” Faith said. “So I can only tell you that the voting officials and volunteers were unbelievably kind — some were in tears; everyone made sure Ruth went to the front of the line. She was ready with her license that shows her DOB: 3/30/16 (That would be 1916.) But all she had to do was show her registration card & sign with a stylus she got to keep. My kids & I walked her to a private booth. I helped her stand. She filled in that circle HARD.”
Everyone at the scene appreciated Ruth’s determination to get out and cast her vote.
Faith got the applause and thanks on camera and Ruth was genuinely appreciative as well, having to stop for a moment to gather herself from the emotion.
Asked how she felt after casting her vote, Ruth told Faith that “I feel I’ve done the best thing I could do under terrible circumstances. I hope that my vote counts as the vote of millions [and] that we will have Biden and Harris. I hope with all my heart. This is so important to me. This is the most important thing I could do!”
A moment later, she added, “I forgot the punchline when you asked me how do I feel today. On top of everything else I said, now I can die happy!”
Ruth wasn’t the only one who found herself emotional that day.
“I cried, my husband cried, poll workers cried, Ruth cried,” Faith tweeted. “My children witnessed herstory in action. This is what voting means. Y’all keep on getting out to vote. Do it for Ruthie.”
h/t: Twitter | @Faith_Salie
