For some of you, this may be the first time you've voted in a presidential election. And for others, you've done it several times.
But there are probably very few people in the U.S. who have lived through 26 presidential elections.
And we found a local treasure who has done just that, in New Orleans.
On this day, November 3 in 1917, Woodrow Wilson was president, women were not allowed to vote, and Dot Ferrand was born. Yes, your math is correct. Today Dot is 103 years old.
“I do have a good birth certificate. I would like to say it's wrong, but I know it's not,” laughs Dot Ferrand.
She has two children, four grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren.
“It's too many birthdays,” she notes.
“Honey” and “Precious” as she and her late husband called each other, met at Pontchartrain Beach and were married for nearly 55 years.
When asked what advice she has for people today to stay married that long, she replied with a laugh, “Just get a good husband.”
“Her secret is a loving family, a wonderful husband and she just loves life,” said her daughter Elaine Amato.
“There was never any sadness in this house. It was always a happy place to be,” remembers her granddaughter, Terrilyn Lemoine.
And her daughter and granddaughter also admit good beer is another secret to Dot’s longevity.
Dot's lived through the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago and 18 presidents. Today is the 26th presidential election in her lifetime. The poll is in the Bucktown school where she was a substitute teacher for 46 years. She has never missed a presidential election and votes on policy.
“That's why the country runs good, if they get a good president,” she said.
When Ferrand was asked if she ever recalled a presidential election as divided with the enthusiasm of 2020, she answered, “No, I think there's more now. A lot's going on.”
After a birthday serenade at the poll by poll workers and voters in line, Dot went in the booth and pressed buttons for candidates who’ve only read in history books some of what she lived through: Several wars, The Great Depression, civil rights, moon shots, jets, penicillin, the internet, the 1980s big hairdo and, oh yeah, a Saints Super Bowl win.
And as she came out of the voting booth, everyone in the polling place gave her a round of applause.
Dot's family says she still lives on her own in the same house for 67 years, and can cook a New Orleans Thanksgiving dinner like none other.
