Jim Crow survivor casts first vote —- for Democrat

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In his 103 years, Ernest Smith says, he never drank, smoked or voted.

Though he’s yet to sample tobacco or alcohol, on Thursday, Smith cast his first ballot —- for Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

“I voted, and I want to vote again,” said Smith, a testament to clean living. “It felt good.”

While the Lithonia man’s hearing is poor and his memory spotty, Smith moves without the aid of a walker and has few wrinkles.

“Loving the Lord,” he said, when asked his secret to longevity.

Born in 1905 in Pembroke, N.C., Smith lived most of his life there and was first eligible to vote in 1928 —- then the voting age was 21.

But for African-Americans like Smith, suffrage was far from universal. Literacy tests and poll taxes were enacted through much of the Jim Crow South to suppress black turnout.

Had Smith attempted to vote in 1928 —- he says he never tried to register —- his choices would have been Herbert Hoover, campaigning as a Republican maverick, and Democrat Al Smith who, like Obama, was a historic nominee.
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