US midterm polls: 82-year-old woman dies after casting her first ballot in life

Washington, Nov 7: It seems she lived her entire life for this one day. Grace Lou Phillips went to cast her ballot early in the midterm polls held in the US, with her medical equipment and after carrying out the all-important duty of a democratic citizen for the first time in her life, passed away. She was 82.

According to a report in NBC station, Fort Worth/Dallas, her family took Grace, who was under treatment in the hospital (she was battling pneumonia), to the polling booth to cast an early ballot in Brand Prairie, Texas. Her grand-daughters said Grace had never voted in her life before this for she thought it wouldn't matter. Also, she was too busy to make out time for casting ballot.

According to the Washington Post who spoke to her son-in-law Jeff Griffith, Grace, a mother of seven children and also a beautician by profession, also did not go to vote as her husband believed that they could be called for jury duty, resulting in compromise of their income.

Grace, however, had a changed mind this time as she felt convinced that her vote also mattered.

"She kept telling everybody: 'I'm voting. I'm going to vote this year and my vote counts,'" Grace's granddaughter Michelle Phillips told the station.

The elderly woman then died, surrounded by her family. Griffith told The Post that one of the last things she said before her death was "at least I voted".