100-year-old votes in her first election
A month after her 100th birthday, Dilla Freeman Burt cast the first vote of her long life — for presidential candidate Barack Obama.
It's the excitement surrounding these elections — a woman running for vice president and a black man running for president — that prompted Burt to action, said her daughter, Phyllis Burt.
"I was feeding her ice cream when she decided she wanted to vote," Phyllis Burt said. "I almost fell out of my chair. I was floored that after all these years of the family pestering her about voting that she'd decided to do it."
Burt registered to vote earlier this month in Davidson County.
Davidson County Election Commission workers visited nursing homes Thursday to collect ballots from older voters who can't get around or need help voting. A nurse took Dilla Burt in a wheelchair to the Bordeaux Long-Term Care lobby, where an election worker asked her whom she wanted to vote for. She gave her answer loud enough for witnesses to hear, and the worker marked the ballot.
On Thursday night, a nurse slowly fed a frail Burt chicken and mashed potatoes from a tray.
"Mom, who did you vote for?" Phyllis Burt asked.
"Obama," her mother quietly replied.
She recently was mentioned on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, a popular syndicated radio program, under the segment "Little Known Black History Facts."
Phyllis Burt, 62, offered some ideas on her mother's reluctance to cast her vote in the 79 years she was eligible. (The voting age was 21 until 1971.)
Her schooling went through the 10th grade.
She married and began her family — ultimately bearing six children. She got involved in the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Meharry Boulevard.
When Burt reached voting age and beyond, she didn't think black votes were counted — or mattered — in elections.
There is no record of Burt voting in the two counties where she lived for many years — Davidson and Rutherford — election commissions in both counties confirmed.
But Phyllis Burt recalled that her mother challenged authority in her own way back then. It was customary for an insurance man to stop by the house to collect the monthly bill. The insurance man greeted her by her first name.
"My mother said, 'Well, you have me at a disadvantage, what is your name?' " Phyllis Burt said. "The man told her his name was George. She called him George and he turned beet red."
People 65 and older make up 13 percent of the population in both counties, according to 2006 Census estimates, and voters older than 60 make up about 16 percent of the people who cast ballots in both counties. There is no category for centenarians, but Rutherford Elections Administrator Hooper Penuel said a 97-year-old woman registered in his county and is using an absentee ballot.
"We're seeing a lot of elderly, not at 100 years old of course, voting for the first time," Penuel said. "My personal opinion is that these elections are very critical and people want to vote and participate this time. There is a minority for both parties causing people to come out."
Contact Chris Echegaray at 615-664-2144 or cechegaray@tenn
It's the excitement surrounding these elections — a woman running for vice president and a black man running for president — that prompted Burt to action, said her daughter, Phyllis Burt.
Burt registered to vote earlier this month in Davidson County.
Davidson County Election Commission workers visited nursing homes Thursday to collect ballots from older voters who can't get around or need help voting. A nurse took Dilla Burt in a wheelchair to the Bordeaux Long-Term Care lobby, where an election worker asked her whom she wanted to vote for. She gave her answer loud enough for witnesses to hear, and the worker marked the ballot.
On Thursday night, a nurse slowly fed a frail Burt chicken and mashed potatoes from a tray.
"Mom, who did you vote for?" Phyllis Burt asked.
"Obama," her mother quietly replied.
She recently was mentioned on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, a popular syndicated radio program, under the segment "Little Known Black History Facts."
Phyllis Burt, 62, offered some ideas on her mother's reluctance to cast her vote in the 79 years she was eligible. (The voting age was 21 until 1971.)
Didn't think vote counted
Dilla Burt grew up on Monroe Street in Nashville, the fifth of eight children, during the women's suffrage movement and long before the civil rights movement. When she was 8 years old, Burt stood on boxes and stools so she could reach kitchen sinks to wash the dirty plates of people who were better off than her family.Her schooling went through the 10th grade.
She married and began her family — ultimately bearing six children. She got involved in the Seventh-day Adventist Church on Meharry Boulevard.
When Burt reached voting age and beyond, she didn't think black votes were counted — or mattered — in elections.
There is no record of Burt voting in the two counties where she lived for many years — Davidson and Rutherford — election commissions in both counties confirmed.
But Phyllis Burt recalled that her mother challenged authority in her own way back then. It was customary for an insurance man to stop by the house to collect the monthly bill. The insurance man greeted her by her first name.
"My mother said, 'Well, you have me at a disadvantage, what is your name?' " Phyllis Burt said. "The man told her his name was George. She called him George and he turned beet red."
People 65 and older make up 13 percent of the population in both counties, according to 2006 Census estimates, and voters older than 60 make up about 16 percent of the people who cast ballots in both counties. There is no category for centenarians, but Rutherford Elections Administrator Hooper Penuel said a 97-year-old woman registered in his county and is using an absentee ballot.
"We're seeing a lot of elderly, not at 100 years old of course, voting for the first time," Penuel said. "My personal opinion is that these elections are very critical and people want to vote and participate this time. There is a minority for both parties causing people to come out."
Contact Chris Echegaray at 615-664-2144 or cechegaray@tenn
