100-Year-Old Voter Finally Sees Dream Realized With ObamaPittsburgh's Lillian Allen Has Voted Every Year Since 1928UPDATED: 7:05 pm EST November 5, 2008 PITTSBURGH -- From Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush, Lillian Allen has seen plenty of presidents take office. And at age 100, this resident of Pittsburgh cast yet another ballot Tuesday."I never thought it would happen. I really didn't. I was surprised," Allen said of Sen. Barack Obama's victory in the presidential election.With her perspective on the past 80 years of presidential politics, Allen believed this year's election was one of the most important ones to date -- with an African-American man running for president and a woman for vice president. "I never thought I'd see the day a black man would get the chance to be president," Allen said. "I guess I thought in the future, I'd be dead and whatnot."Allen was so passionate that she walked the streets, going door to door and encouraging others to vote."I did a lot more when I was younger," she said. "I never got paid for anything. I would stand outside the polls and tell them to pick this one and that one."She first voted in 1928, just a few years after women were given the right. "When I found out that I could vote here, I voted every vote that could come up because I thought it was such a privilege to have a say in what our government was doing," Allen said. As a young African-American woman in Alabama, Allen could not go to the polls for a few years because she didn't own land. But over the years, she has had a chance to see presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan come in and out of office."I do remember some of the candidates coming past and driving through the Hill (District), and so I got a chance to stand in the street and wave at them," Allen said.Her favorite president was Bill Clinton."With Clinton, I got a chance to meet him," said Allen. "I was 90 years old (and came) to a Christmas party."While preparing to voice her opinion at the polls once again, she also managed to write a book this year about starting a business in the 1940s in Pittsburgh. Through her own life experiences, Allen hopes others see how important it is to get out and vote -- and she said Obama's victory is inspiring to young people."It's a big message," Allen said. "It shows that if you try, you can be anything you want to be. If you put your heart and soul into it and really work at it, you can be what you want to be." Related Links:
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