Former President Jimmy Carter voted this Wednesday for probably the last time in his life.
The 100-year-old cast his vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, his family revealed.
Carter told family members he was trying to reach his 100th birthday in October so he could also vote for Harris to become the first female president of the United States.
The former Democratic president’s ballot for the vice presidential promotion was deposited in the mailbox at the Sumter County Courthouse near Plains, Georgia, where Carter has been in hospice care at home since February 2023.
Carter’s grandson Jason Carter and son Chip Carter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the patriarch of their family “feels good” and that he “absolutely” voted for Harris.
Jimmy Carter told his family he hoped to live long enough to vote in the election for Vice President Kamala Harris. The former president turned 100 on October 1 – almost two years after he entered hospice care at home
“He’s never voted for a Republican in his life,” Chip added.
The son of the surviving president said his wife Becky dropped off the ballot box on behalf of his father on Wednesday.
“It was a good morning for him and good for us that he got it done,” Chip said.
Early voting began in Georgia on Tuesday and more than 300,000 people cast ballots in the first 24 hours – more than double the 2020 turnout.
Carter said one of his last wishes was to vote in the 2024 election.
Georgia is one of the seven key swing states in the 2024 race, and Donald Trump is determined to win it back after losing to Joe Biden in the Peach State in 2020.
Carter – who celebrated his 100th birthday in Georgia on October 1 – told his family he hoped to live long enough to vote in this election.
“I’m just trying to pass the vote for Kamala Harris,” Carter told Chip and Jason.
More than 300,000 voters cast their ballots on the first day of early voting in Georgia starting Tuesday
Polls have been positive for Harris lately, and numbers suggest she could improve on Biden’s marginal victory in the Peach State four years ago.
A judge in Georgia on Tuesday temporarily halted a new rule requiring poll workers to count ballots in the Nov. 5 election, in a defeat for Donald Trump, whose Republican allies implemented the change after he lost the battleground state in 2020.
“Election inspectors in Georgia have a mandatory, standing obligation to certify election results,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said in the filing obtained by CNN.
“Consequently, no election inspector (or member of an election and registration board) may, under any circumstances, refuse to certify or renounce election results.”
Carter – the first US president to reach the century mark – was able to view a flyover of four F-18 jets and several vintage aircraft gracing the skies over Plains, Georgia, as part of the city’s celebrations to mark his special day, per CBS News.
Jason Carter said his grandfather is “more alert and interested in politics and the war in Gaza.”
Carter’s daughter-in-law delivered his ballot to a drop box at the Sumter County Courthouse near Plains, Georgia, on Wednesday
Carter entered hospice care in February 2023, just a few months before his beloved wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, passed away in November 2023.
“He’s doing well,” Jason said of the former president two weeks before he turned 100.
“I mean, he’s been in hospice for over 19 months now and he’s really deteriorated physically and can’t do much on his own, but he’s emotionally engaged and still having experiences and laughing and loving.”
He had previously said the 39th president was “no longer awake every day” while receiving hospice care.
The Democrat is the oldest living former president and was in office from 1977 to 1981.
His family announced in February 2023 that he had been admitted to hospice care and many assumed this meant he was near death.
He has been receiving end-of-life care at his Plains home for 17 months, including mourning the death of his beloved wife of 77 years, Rosalynn.
The former president was last seen at her funeral in Georgia in November last year.
Rosalynn Carter died on November 19 at the age of 96. She and Carter were the longest married presidential couple.