First-time voter, 91, ponders her pick

MADISON HEIGHTS – With the warm smile of a churchgoer, Dorothy Peters won’t say who she’s voting for.

It’s hard to blame her.

Nov. 4 will be the 91-year-old’s first-ever trip to the polls. When her granddaughter drives her up to Grace Baptist Church, her polling place, she said long lines wouldn’t stop her from breaking new personal ground.

“I’m kind of a little excited,” Peters said. “I never did that before.”

She was 3 when the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. As a mother raising children, she said it was an act she didn’t think much about.

Times have changed morally and economically, which is why she said she is taking that right more seriously now.

“The world is in such a fix,” said Peters. “I just thought I would go on and vote.”

At the urging of a close friend, she registered before the Oct. 6 deadline and received her voter’s card this month.

Peters’ husband died in 1993 and was against women voting, she said. She also admitted to harboring an “old fashioned” view that women should not have leadership capabilities.

When asked what she thought of Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, she replied she would just leave that to the Lord.

“I’ll be praying for her.”

Living through 16 presidential administrations, Peters isn’t a stranger to politics. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to ban Christian prayers from public classrooms during the 1960s, in her opinion, was a mistake the country is still paying for.

She also has a great-grandson in the military and is concerned for his safety, though she doesn’t claim to be anti-war.

This year’s political season has seen her more rejuvenated and open to the political process, said Judy Peters, her daughter-in-law.

“She said it was real important election,” Judy Peters said. “She just wants to be involved. I think it’s wonderful.”

Peters has searched for all the information she can get about the candidates, said Glenda Jennings, her caregiver.

“She has stayed up watching the debates,” Jennings said. “She watches anything on television pertaining to it and does a lot of reading.”

Peters said her faith would play a big part in her upcoming decision. She has studied the leading presidential candidates and, like many Americans, holds her scorecard close.

“They’ve never shown me they really are a Christian,” she said.

The senior reflects the largest surge of voter registrations that Virginia has ever experienced.

Since January, the state has seen a net gain of 436,000 new voters, according to a recent news release from the State Board of Elections.

Nearly 40 percent of newly registered voters are under 25. Regardless of age, females represent the majority of first-time voters.

Since January, there has been a 50 percent increase in new voters ages 50-59; 26 percent among ages 60-69; 9 percent for ages 70-79; and nearly 13 percent for ages 80 and above, according to the state board.

Peters said it’s because of young people and their future that she is changing her old-fashioned ways to vote.

“I feel so bad for them I don’t know what to do,” Peters said. “I don’t think about myself … I will be going before long.”