Originally published at National Catholic Register
At their residence in Washington, D.C., 87- and 96-year-olds exercize the right to vote.
At 87, Carl Bergquist has cast what he believes will be the final vote of his lifetime.
An 18-year resident at the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Washington D.C., operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, Bergquist has never failed to cast a vote in his life. And, despite failing health, he wasn’t about to start now.
“I want everyone to vote,” he told the Register in a hoarse whisper, “even if you have to crawl to the ballot box.”
In the United States, every vote counts the same. But when you get to be Bergquist’s age, they carry a lot more weight.
Each election, workers from the local election board come to the residence, which is located just behind the Pope St. John Paul II Shrine in D.C. and across the street from The Catholic University of America, to officiate the vote for elderly people, helping them to fill out their ballots and turn them in properly.
‘Lives to Vote’
According to Little Sister of the Poor Constance Veit, Bergquist has long been wheelchair-bound from a disability. After earning a degree in economics from
