Conn. woman cast first vote in 1920

TOLLAND, Conn., Oct. 8 (UPI) -- A 110-year-old Connecticut woman cast her first vote in 1920 with her grandmother, mother and aunt in the first election completely open to women.

Irma Schmidt of Tolland, Conn., told The Hartford (Conn.) Courant that she voted for the Republican candidate, Warren Harding. She has voted in every presidential election since.

"Voting was always something you looked forward to," she said.

A native of Ohio, Schmidt spent much of her adult life in New Brunswick, N.J., where her husband, George, taught political science at Douglass College, part of Rutgers University. Her daughter, Marianne Simonoff, told the Courant that the family spent a lot of time talking politics.

Staff members at Woodland at Tolland, the nursing home where Schmidt lives, said that she reads newspapers and keeps up with events.

Connecticut Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said that 1,730 of Connecticut's registered voters are centenarians. Schmidt is believed to be the oldest on the rolls, the Courant reported.