After living through a century of American politics, Florida’s oldest voters aren’t done yet

Alice Lesko mailed her ballot ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections. Her eyesight isn’t what it used to be, and signing her name has become difficult. 

Lesko, of Palm Springs in South Florida, turned 111 this month. She is among Florida’s oldest, active voters, one of more than 5,698 on state voter registration records whose ages have passed the century mark and who consider regularly participating in elections part of their civic responsibility.

In interviews across Florida, these centenarians said they are as divided politically as the rest of America. They see today’s political races as increasingly bleak and divisive. Still, they have not given up on voting.   

Virginia Henderson is 103. She lives in Middleburg in Clay County, southwest of Jacksonville, where President Donald Trump won 70% of the vote in 2024. A registered Republican, she still approves of the divisive president.

“I think the man was handed a big plate of things. And he’s trying,” she said. “Time will tell.”

Lesko, a registered Democrat, votes in Palm Beach County, where Democrats outnumber Republicans. She remembers voting for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who as the 32nd president led the country through the Great Depression and most of World War II. Roosevelt cared about ordinary people, she said.

In her view, Trump is no Roosevelt.

“He wants everything for his family, everything that's good for them,” she said. “And he's not worrying about us.”

Tuesday’s midterms put the control of Congress at stake in what may be a test of attitudes toward the handling by Trump and Republicans of the economy, the war in Iran and domestic policies like immigration enforcement.

In Bradenton, north of Sarasota along the Gulf Coast, 103-year-old Ruth Manger said she voted along Republican Party lines. She is blind and relies on the radio to follow current events, listening to news broadcasts late into the evening. 

Edith Hirsch of Boynton Beach, south of Palm Beach, is 104 and a proud Democrat. She voted early with other family members in this year’s midterms. She is a Holocaust survivor originally from Germany. She described herself as a fan of former President Joe Biden.

Despite their political differences, the oldest voters urged younger ones to join them in casting ballots. Hirsch called it the right thing.

Manger said younger voters should research candidates with care. 

“Look for people that are going to do their best in leadership, to help our country, to help the state, help the county or whatever local politics you're talking about,” she said.

Lesko added: “That’s what we should do, vote. Get in people that we think we want.”

Yet Lesko acknowledged it can be difficult to uncover the truth about candidates. “I don't know how anybody can trust them,” she said.

Henderson remembers her disappointment in former President Richard Nixon, whose presidency ended in 1974 amid the Watergate scandal and political coverup.

“You can't believe half of what you read or hear, not unless you see it with your own eye,” Henderson said. 

Eugene Martin, 103, of Lake Worth Beach in South Florida, declined to say which candidates he supported in the midterms. He said he has voted for Republicans and Democrats over the years. He mailed his ballot this year.

Martin said he respects the presidency as an institution even when he disagrees with the person holding the office.

“In the Army, you salute the uniform, not the individual in the uniform,” said Martin, a World War II veteran.

Martin said he is worried that advances in technology, including artificial intelligence, may affect younger voters’ critical thinking. 

“They're losing the ability to read and write and absorb,” said Martin, who is registered to vote with no political party affiliation. “It’s going to be a massive change.”

Henderson said the importance of voting was a lesson passed down through her family, including her grandfather.

“You don’t vote, you don’t have a voice. So you can’t have any say in anything,” she said. “Because what good does it do you

Martin worries about the state of American democracy.

“I started out born in a democracy, and I'm reaching my end years where it is being, unfortunately, effectively destroyed,” he said. 

This story was produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. The reporter can be reached at jbendeck@ufl.edu. You can donate to support our students here.