A 102-year-old California woman, Guadalupe Portillo, voted for the first time in a national election on Tuesday, just a year after taking her oath of U.S. citizenship.
"I may be old, but I'm one more voice," she
told NBC Los Angeles. Her big message to her fellow citizens ahead of Election Day was that all American's should be voting.
"Please don't forget to vote. It's never too late," she said. "Here I am at my age still fighting, and you won't even vote?"
Born in Mexico, Portillo came to the U.S. as a legal resident in the 1980s, and now resides in Lincoln Heights.
She said voting was uplifting and empowering. She voted in the state primaries this summer, but was really amped up for the national elections this week. On Election Day, Portillo and her neighbors were awoken by mariachi music set up by The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which works to get out the vote on the big day.
With the help of friends, she made her way to the Montecito Heights Recreation Center on Griffin Avenue to cast her ballot.
"I was so emotional," she explained. "It was a feeling I had never felt before."
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