Michelle Obama hosts 102-year-old determined voter
WASHINGTON — A determined Florida centenarian who had to make two trips and wait several hours to vote for President Barack Obama last fall joined first lady Michelle Obama for the State of the Union on Feb. 12. Her resolve to cast a ballot became a symbol of early voting obstacles in the presidential election.
Desiline Victor, 102, of Miami was among the guests seated in the House visitors' gallery, an opportunity she called “a beautiful thing.”
During his address, Obama cited Victor as an example worth following, saying she was concerned about “whether folks like her would get to have their say.”
In October, Victor went to the polls on the first Sunday of early voting in Florida.
That day, she had to make two visits to her voting precinct, and waited three hours on the first attempt, to cast her vote for Obama.
Her determination, despite the physical strain, inspired others to remain and endure up to six-hour waits.
“She just wants everyone to know she wants everyone to vote,” said Victor's nephew, Mathieu Pierre-Louis, who translated her words from Creole. Her vote, she said through her nephew, is special. She said she loves Obama and will tell him so if she gets the chance.
As he was leaving the House chamber after his speech, Obama raised the issue of voting delays with Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., an icon from the civil rights era.“Nobody should have to wait seven hours. You already fought that fight,” the president told Lewis, who turns 73 next week.A farmworker from Haiti, Victor was born in 1910. She arrived in the U.S. in 1989 and was naturalized in 2005. She first voted in the 2008 presidential election and cast her ballot for Obama.A slew of states, including Victor's home state of Florida, implemented new voting restrictions in the two years after Obama's historic first election, in which black and Hispanic turnout reached record highs. The laws reduced early voting days, instituted rules requiring voters to show accepted forms of photo identification and curtailed some voter registration activities.Obama again enjoyed overwhelming support from minority voters in his victory over GOP rival Mitt Romney last year.Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a group that advocates for civil rights, said Victor's story underscores the need to fix the voting system to ensure, among other things, that it accommodates elderly voters.“It's clear Ms. Victor's story is a story that shows the tenacity of a voter to overcome barriers,” Dianis said. “Unfortunately, there were dozens who didn't get to vote because of problems.”
