Born before women's suffrage, Georgia woman votes for Clinton

Faye Butler and her Margaret doll

Credit: WSB Radio

Credit: WSB Radio

Faye Butler and her Margaret doll

When Faye Butler was born in 1918, the star pitcher for the Boston Red Sox was Babe Ruth, World War I was five months away from ending and women could not vote.

Butler, who was born in Iowa and lives in Decatur, Georgia, is 98 years old and has now voted in her 20th presidential election. She cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton, meaning the woman who was born before women had the right to vote has voted for a woman for president.

"I'm sure that she's going to be Madam President," Butler says. "I've been thinking about this for 10 years now and I was really disappointed that she didn't make it the first time."

Butler was born in Council Bluffs, where her sister (younger by 18 months) still lives. She says that when she voted this year she thought about her mother and women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who fought for the right.

"When I heard what they did in order to get us the right to vote," she says, "I think that young women need to get out and vote."

Butler says she did not hear either her mother or grandmother tell stories about being represented by people they could not vote for, but did relay one story about her grandmother and the time she was getting ready to vote for the first time.

"I asked her if she was going to vote and she said no," Butler says, "because she said she would eliminate Pa's vote if she did.

"So I told her that, if I ever got married and he was going to vote for someone I didn't like, I was going to make sure to vote.”

At the age of 22, Butler's very first presidential vote went to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"I guess I liked his fireside chats," Butler told WSB-TV.

And so began a lifetime of voting Democrat. The sole exception: the election of 1948. Faye's family was afraid President Harry Truman was in cahoots with political bosses in Kansas City.

"Well, we assumed that Truman was part of this. So we voted for Dewey," Butler said.

Butler, who was a charter subscriber to Ms. magazine (and still has the Margaret doll she bought when she purchased the subscription), says she often considers herself lucky to be born before women could vote and now has voted for a woman.

"I just believe in women's rights. I just believe that Hillary is going to make it," Butler told WSB-TV.

And with a smile on her face Butler said she will accept the results of the election.