--- title: 2014 Midterms Old Voter: 102-Year-Old Votes For First Time description: Guadalupe Portillo, a 102-year-old immigrant, voted in a national election for the first time on Tuesday. canonical: https://time.com/3556682/102-year-old-first-vote/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-04T19:39:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:13:01.070Z article:section: Politics og:title: 2014 Midterms Old Voter: 102-Year-Old Votes For First Time og:description: Guadalupe Portillo, a 102-year-old immigrant, voted in a national election for the first time on Tuesday. og:url: https://time.com/3556682/102-year-old-first-vote/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5d803bacc5acaed/6987642455a85929e6a8393d/2014-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: APTOPIX America Votes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2014 Midterms Old Voter: 102-Year-Old Votes For First Time twitter:description: Guadalupe Portillo, a 102-year-old immigrant, voted in a national election for the first time on Tuesday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5d803bacc5acaed/6987642455a85929e6a8393d/2014-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 102-Year-Old Votes in U.S. for the First Time  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 4, 2014 7:39 PM UTC  Voters fill out their ballots in a gym on election day at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. Voters fill out their ballots in a gym on election day at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, in Albany, N.Y.Mike Groll—AP  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 4, 2014 7:39 PM UTC Midterm elections are known for low turnout and widespread voter apathy, but for centenarian Guadalupe Portillo, “inaction is not an option.” The 102-year-old voted in a national American election for the first time on Tuesday. “It’s never too late,” she told NBC Los Angeles. “Here I am at my age still fighting, and you won’t even vote?” Portillo moved to the United States from Mexico in the 1980s and attained U.S. citizenship last year. She told NBC that she counts immigration reform among the issues that inspired her to get to the polls. \[[_Today_](http://www.today.com/news/its-never-too-late-says-102-year-old-voting-her-1D80265959)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3556682/102-year-old-first-vote/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3556682/102-year-old-first-vote/"},"headline":"102-Year-Old Votes in U.S. for the First Time","datePublished":"2014-11-04T19:39:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:13:01.070Z","description":"'It's never too late'","url":"https://time.com/3556682/102-year-old-first-vote/","keywords":["2014 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5d803bacc5acaed/6987642455a85929e6a8393d/2014-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5d803bacc5acaed/6987642455a85929e6a8393d/2014-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"APTOPIX America Votes","caption":"APTOPIX America Votes","creditText":"Mike Groll—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3556682/102-year-old-first-vote/","name":"102-Year-Old Votes in U.S. for the First Time"}}]}] ```