An 81-year-old woman in Georgia voted for the first time in her life after her husband forbade her from casting a ballot for decades.
Betty Cartledge from Newton County, Georgia, had never been inside of a voting booth until this year.
Her husband told her that he didn’t think she should vote – so she didn’t and neither did he.
She said she had thought about it before but explained she couldn’t read or write.
‘I was married to him for 64 years; I knew everything about him. But that was something he never discussed and never wanted to do,’ she told The Washington Post.
But now, Cartledge has the opportunity to do so this election, after her husband’s death last year.
With the help of her niece, Wanda Moore, Cartledge registered to vote and was taken to an early voting station in Covington where a record number of people turned out for early voting, with 600,000 in the first two days.
‘I’m 81 today, but Sunday I’ll be 82,’ Cartledge told WSB-TV 2.
‘I was so young and everything when we got married, I never really thought about it. And then I got old, and I thought that it wouldn’t count to vote.’
This year, Cartledge finally voted and it ‘made me feel like I was American’.
Another senior voter, Bryant Hairston, said he votes every year, telling WSB-TV 2: ‘Every election is important, but I had to definitely get in here for this one.’
‘I wanted to go, I really did,’ Cartledge said. ‘I’m sorry I had waited so long. I wish I had done it before now.’
She said the experience was easier and more emotional than she had anticipated and urges others to do so.
Cartledge said she would ‘be back again’, adding: ‘It was neat, it was good. If I’m here, I’ll be back again.’
Early voting is already happening in 15 states ahead of the presidential election on November 5.