An 81-Year-Old Georgia Woman Never Voted Because Her Late Husband Didn't Want Her To. She Just Cast Her Ballot For the First Time

An 81-year-old Georgia woman voted for the first time in her life following the death of her husband, who never wanted her to vote.

On Wednesday, Newton County voter Betty Cartledge went to her local early voting station with her niece, Wanda Moore, in order to cast her ballot for the first time, as reported by WSB-TV.

"I'm 81 today, but Sunday I'll be 82," Cartledge told the outlet.

Cartledge's late husband William, a Korean War veteran, had said he did not see a need for his wife to vote. William passed away in April of last year.

"I was so young and everything when we got married, I never really thought about it. And then I got old and I thought that it wouldn't count to vote," Cartledge told WSB-TV.

Moore, who knew Cartledge could not read or write, encouraged her aunt to register to vote and took her to an early voting station in Covington, Georgia, to help her cast her ballot.

"I took it for granted that anybody that was old enough to vote was certainly registered, and that's not true," Moore told the Washington Post. "I just thought it was something that everybody did."

"I felt like I needed to help her because she wanted her vote to count, at least once," Moore continued.

Cartledge told the Post, "She didn't tell me who to vote for. That was my choice."

Cartledge was overwhelmed by emotion upon casting her ballot, stating that she was "no longer ashamed" of being unable to vote due to illiteracy. "It made me feel like I was American, and I was standing up for my rights," she told the Post.