‘If she can do it, you can too!’ 102-year-old SC woman casts ballot and goes viral
A 102-year-old Hampton woman has not allowed COVID-19 to keep her from voting in the 2020 presidential election. After all, this isn’t the first pandemic she’s lived through.
Ora Smith, now lovingly called “Aunt Ora” by people across the world, recently went viral after her great nephew tweeted photos of her submitting her absentee ballot at a ballot box.
The photos show Smith holding her ballot while sitting in the passenger seat of a car wearing a colorful patterned headscarf and a trench coat with an “I voted” sticker on the collar.
“If she can do it, you can too!” Chicago nephew Quentin Youmans tweeted last week, noting Smith was born in 1918 during the Spanish flu pandemic.
The tweet had more than 18,100 retweets, 3,000 quote tweets, and 140,400 likes on Twitter as of Thursday.
The pictures of Smith even caught the attention of someone she’d previously voted for.
Less than four hours after Youmans’ tweet, former President Barack Obama gave Smith a shoutout.
“102 never looked better!” he tweeted. “Grateful for all the folks like your great aunt who continue to show up and vote in this important election.”
Smith knows the importance of a vote.
Smith’s grandmother was enslaved, another one of Youmans’ tweets said, adding that Smith’s mother was born in 1887 and lived to be 105.
As a Black woman, Smith did not have the right to vote until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed prohibiting racial discrimination in voting — 35 years after the 19th amendment declared that the right to vote would “not be denied” on account of sex.
Smith turned 47 when the United States first allowed her to vote.
She recently told CNN “it’s an enjoyment to vote,” but as a safety precaution voted absentee this year.
Youmans said his great aunt has been an inspiration to him, so he wanted to share that with others.
“Our hearts are full with all of the love you have shown our sweet Aunt Ora,” he tweeted.
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 10:34 AM.
