BY TAMECA JOHNSON

Freelance Writer

The Get Out The Vote campaign is hard and fierce across the country.  Politicians are pushing it.  Civil Right leaders are pushing it and even television news personalities, who are supposed to remain unbiased, are pushing the importance of casting a vote this election year.

Some people will listen, but for those who won’t, maybe the story of Mrs. Carrie Blount Williams will light a fire under you.

Mrs. Williams is a feisty and spry 103-year- old, born in Eleck, Alabama in the year 1909.  She became a registered voter in the late 1920s and has voted in every election since the years of President Calvin Coolidge.

Mrs. Williams moved to Tampa from Los Angeles nearly a year ago, but was determined not to let a move clear across the country prevent her from voting in the upcoming Presidential race.  “I’ve always voted,” she says, “and I definitely wanted to vote this time.  I didn’t want to miss it.”

With the help of her 71- year-old nephew, Willie Lovejoy and family Attorney Jeraldine Williams-Shaw, Mrs. Williams registered as a Florida voter late Tuesday afternoon, just in the nick of time.  That day was the deadline to register in order to be eligible to vote in the November General Election.

“She watches all politics,” says Mr. Lovejoy.  “All she does is watch CNN, and she loves President Obama.  She never thought she’d see a Black President in all her life.  I’m almost 40 years younger and I never thought I’d see it either.”

Mrs. Williams was the third child in a family of 12 children.  She never had any kids of her own, but helped raise Mr. Lovejoy.  She’s outlived three husbands and all but one sibling.  She lived on her own in California prior to her move to Tampa.  She’s a member of Bible-Based Fellowship Church in Temple Terrace and according to her nephew, actively participates in the church’s senior activities.

“She gets around very well.  Don’t take her shopping, ‘cause she’ll wear you out!”

Mr. Lovejoy and State Representative Betty Reed will personally escort Mrs. Williams to the polls on Election Day November 6.