Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
101- year- old will head to the polls
Mary Jane Jacoby of Pennside says it’s the most important election of her lifetime
Mary Jane Jacoby was a toddler when women first got the right to vote.
She was born on the heels of one world war and would come to know the horrors of living through a second.
She was alive when the first man flew across the Atlantic Ocean. She saw the Great Depression push the country into poverty. She saw a president assassinated.
She witnessed a man walk on the moon. She lived through the fight for civil rights and gender equality.
Jacoby has seen an awful lot in her 101 years on Earth. She has seen devastating tragedies, triumphant victories and practically everything in between.
So it should come as no surprise that she’s not going to let a little thing like a global pandemic keep her from the ballot box on Election Day.
Jacoby said that on Election Day she will head off down the street, grasping her cane in her hand, to make the three- and-ahalf block walk to her polling site to cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election.
She jokes that the short trip will likely take her about 15 minutes to complete but that it will be well worth the effort.
“I’ve been voting ever since I can remember, so I’m not about to sit this one out,” the Pennside woman said with a laugh. “I don’t trust voting by mail and I want to know my vote counts — especially this year.”
Not worried
At her age, Jacoby is at high risk for becoming severely ill if she contracted the coronavirus. But she said she’s not worried. And, she added, if she’s not worried about it then others shouldn’t let it keep them from exercising their civic duty.
She said people should be careful but not scared.