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Photo of 102-year-old at the ballot box goes viral on Twitter: 'If she can do it, you can too!'

Man posts photos of 102-year-old great aunt mailing her ballot. (Photo: Twitter)
Man posts photos of 102-year-old great aunt mailing her ballot. (Photo: Twitter)

A 102-year-old woman in Chicago is encouraging people everywhere to vote early after a photo of her mailing her ballot went viral on social media.

”At 102 years old, my great aunt, born the year of our last great pandemic, made her way to the ballot box to cast her vote,” Quentin Youmans tweeted, alongside photos of his Aunt Ora. “If she can do it, you can too!”

The photos show the woman holding up her ballot that reads “every vote matters,” while also wearing an I voted sticker. Youmans didn’t immediately respond to Yahoo Life’s request for comment. However, in a follow-up tweet, he gave more context to his Aunt Ora and the importance of her vote by revealing that she is the granddaughter of slaves.

“With deep roots in South Carolina, Aunt Ora knows the value of the vote,” he wrote. “For her and for all of us, please please please vote.”

Youmans’ tweet has racked up more than 67,000 likes and more than 10,000 retweets as of Wednesday afternoon, including those by former President Barack Obama and comedian Wanda Sykes.

”102 never looked better!” Obama wrote. “Grateful for all the folks like your great aunt who continue to show up and vote in this important election.”

”No excuses,” Sykes added.

Still, the best responses came from those who also shared photos of their older relatives in their 80s, 90s and even 100s who took the time to cast their ballots early.

One Twitter user even drew a connection between Ora and another 102-year-old woman, Bea Lumpkin, who received widespread attention for going to mail her ballot in full PPE.

”Can we get a Zoom call with her and Bea Lumpkin?!” the person tweeted. “They’re my new (s)heroes!”

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