’Vote because your life depends on it’: 94-year-old travels 300 miles to cast ballot

DETROIT — A 94-year-old woman made sure her voice was heard as she cast her ballot in person last week in Detroit.

“I wanted to make sure my vote counted,” Mildred Madison told WJBK, adding that her mail-in ballot for the primaries was late, and she didn’t want to take any chances with the general election.

Madison, who is helping care for her sister near Chicago, traveled nearly 300 miles to Detroit, where she is registered to vote.

Her son and daughter drove her to cast her ballot at a polling place in the city.

“My mother was an elected official so she understands the importance from both sides,” Madison’s daughter, Sharon Madison, told WJBK.

Mildred Madison said the voting process was “very easy," and she was able to vote from her wheelchair.

“This is my 72nd year to vote. I’ve been voting ever since I was 21 years old, and I’ve never missed an election.” she said. “My parents could not vote in the south, and they made sure that all of their children were going to vote.

According to Sharon Madison, her mother was an elected official in the past: Mildred Madison has served various communities via city council, the board of education and as president of the League of Women Voters.

“When I found out my councilman was not doing what he was supposed to do, I ran against him and I became a council-person,” Madison told WXYZ.

“I wasn’t going to miss this at all. It was most important, no matter what I had to do,” she said. “Vote because your life depends on it ... This year it truly depends on it that you vote. Not only for you but for your children and their children.”

After the Madisons voted, the family hit the road and drove the nearly 300 miles back to the Chicago area.

Mildred Madison’s biggest piece of advice is this: “Vote, but know who you are voting for and why,” she told WXYZ.

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