DALTON, Ga. — There have been a number of voters nationwide heading to their assigned precincts to make their voices heard in this year’s historic election by way of early voting. Last week, Mary Jane Dunlap was the first 100-year-old to do so at a north Georgia courthouse — making a bit of history in her own right.

Andrea Springfield, who works at the Whitfield County, Georgia, Board of Elections and Registrars, remembers Dunlap being very “nice and sweet”.

“She was in her right mind and ready to go,” she said of Dunlap.

Dunlap’s trip to the polls precedes that of another centenarian, Jerry Emmett, who gained national media attention after casting her vote for Hillary Clinton on Tuesday. Both Dunlap and Emmett, 102, were born prior to women in the U.S. earning the right to vote in 1920.

Dunlap, who moved to Dalton, Georgia, from the southern part of the state five years ago, told election workers she’s never missed an opportunity to vote because she was taught the importance of voting at an early age. “My parents believed that it was our duty to have a voice in the elections,” she said.

She said she’s proud of the number of people casting votes early.

“Voting is something that is our duty,” Dunlap said. “We’re voting for people that serve all of us,” she said, adding, “We all have preferences and you can express them by voting,” she said.

Dunlap said she’s not surprised to see a woman running for president.

“I knew that would happen one day,” she said. “Women are taking places in businesses that long time ago were mostly handled by men.”

Dunlap said women are capable of doing whatever they like now and it’s good that women are accomplishing more.

“A long time ago, women were just at home looking after children. I think it’s been real good to see women enter into things that affect people in every way,” she said.

Dunlap’s daughter, Alice Squillario, said her mother is “quite the lady” and has always been interested in politics.

“We are very delighted to have her and feel very fortunate,” Squillario said of her mother. “She’s lived a life that is really outstanding. I think she’s an outstanding lady even if she is my mother,” Squillario said.

Dunlap is a former educator who holds a master’s degree in teaching and also taught Sunday school for 40 years. And in July, she celebrated her 100th birthday with 65 of her closest relatives and three parties.

Anna Davis, Dunlap’s sitter, said she’s a “joy.”

“I wish more people like her lived to be 100,” Davis said. “I’m glad I get to experience being around her.”

Cobb writes for the Dalton, Georgia Daily Citizen.