At 87, Carl Bergquist has cast what he believes will be the final vote of his lifetime.

An 18-year resident at the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Washington D.C., operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor, Bergquist has never failed to cast a vote in his life. And, despite failing health, he wasn’t about to start now. 

“I want everyone to vote,” he told the Register in a hoarse whisper, “even if you have to crawl to the ballot box.”

In the United States, every vote counts the same. But when you get to be Bergquist’s age, they carry a lot more weight.

Each election, workers from the local election board come to the residence, which is located just behind the Pope St. John Paul II Shrine in D.C. and across the street from The Catholic University of America, to officiate the vote for elderly people, helping them to fill out their ballots and turn them in properly.

‘Lives to Vote’

According to Little Sister of the Poor Constance Veit, Bergquist has long been wheelchair-bound from a disability. After earning a degree in economics from American University, he went into business with his brother and married a beautiful woman from Colombia, with whom he had one son, in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She died many years ago. 

Throughout those years, he remained active in Virginia politics, working on behalf of former senators and governors from the state. And throughout his life, Bergquist remained active in his local parish.  

From his bed at the residence, and with Sister Constance and his sister Anne Tartaglia at his side, Bergquist urged younger people to remain engaged in American democracy. 

“We must come together and form an association together in the name of Jesus,” he said. “With freedom in America, you can do so much more to help other people. Young people should be willing to sacrifice to help others for the love of America.”

Sister Constance said that Bergquist, who has been sick on and off for the past few years, has been telling people that he’s been hanging on to life to live through this election. He believes he will die soon and be greeted by his “good friend” St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.

“He told me recently that he ‘lives to vote,’” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s propelling himself to live past this election. He’s been avidly following the news from bed and telling everyone about it. He really is very alert.”

 

Deep Believer in the American Project

Down the hall, political lifer 96-year-old Jean Armstrong is following the election just as closely as Bergquist. A former office manager and personal secretary for Republican representatives Donald Bruce of Indiana and Wayne Hays of Ohio in the 1950s and 1960s, she would arrange meetings and manage the mail, which required keen insight into the politics of the time and a mastery of the issues. 

“I worked on Capitol Hill for about 20 years,” she told the Register. “I worked in three really great offices. I was a conservative Republican back in the ’50s and ’60s, and I still am. It was a time when we could all get together. We would invite Democrats over to our office and talk about issues after the House adjourned. It was just a completely different atmosphere.”

Armstrong, wearing her Notre Dame football t-shirt and watching football in her room when she spoke to the Register, has now cast a vote in 21 presidential elections, beginning with the 1940 contest between Franklin Roosevelt and Wendell Willkie. She is a diligent student of American history — she speaks with the clarity and confidence of a college professor at 96 — and a deep believer in the American project. Her favorite president is George Washington, and she still marvels at the U.S. Constitution. 

“It’s an absolute miracle how our country was founded,” she said. “They all fought with each other but then finally resolved their differences. They wanted to appoint Washington king, but he said, ‘No, no, no: We will just go with the two terms.’ So he was a beautiful example of the way our country should be run.” 

Her favorite president she’s voted for?

“The actor: Reagan.”

Despite being actively involved in politics for nearly 80 years, Armstrong believes this is the single craziest election she’s ever seen — it was the only point in the conversation in which she seemed at a loss for words. She was troubled by the fact that Kamala Harris was simply awarded the Democratic nomination without a vote. And while she believes Donald Trump is a “different type of personality,” she thinks the country would be better off with him at the helm due to his background in business. 

“He would be much better than she would for the issues I support,” she said of Trump, referring to her pro-life convictions. 

“I just wish he’d watch his language,” she added.

But more than the outcome of the election, Armstrong believes the fate of the nation rests on young people learning American history. The reason we keep running into so many problems in communication, in her view, is because we don’t have a common base of knowledge.

“They need to learn about our country,” she said. “There’s a tremendous lack of knowledge today. The way we were founded was a miracle. I hope we remember that.”