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Meet the 82-Year-Old Voter Who's (Almost) Never Missed an Election
For this Army veteran, voting is a lifelong habit
5-minute read
Gerald Cline, 82, has voted in more than 50 consecutive elections in his lifetime, a habit he says has been shaped by his experiences serving in the military and growing up in rural West Virginia.
Lawren Simmons
Key takeaways
- For Gerald Cline, voting is a practice rooted in the same sense of duty that guided his military service. •
- After earning a place in West Virginia’s Voter Hall of Fame, Cline shares a simple lesson: Every vote counts.
- Like many older voters, Cline is committed to voting, and AARP is helping make sure older Americans are heard at the ballot box.
For more than half a century, Gerald Cline has approached voting the same way he approached his military service, work and community life: You show up.
As a child in rural West Virginia, he crossed seven fences, rain or shine, between his family’s farm and the bus stop a mile and a half away to get to class.
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As a young man, when his country called, he showed up overseas, patrolling 9 miles of border territory between East and West Germany. Later, he joined the workforce at Alderson Broaddus University in West Virginia, where he spent 22 years as an electrician, keeping the lights on for thousands of students.
And when Election Day came around, he showed up at his polling place, returning year after year for more than five decades.
“It just got to be habit,” Cline, 82, says.
Life experiences shape a commitment to voting
Cline’s consistency stands out. Millions of Americans stay home on Election Day.
Cline says he's never considered not voting. He believes it's part of being an American and the best way to make his voice heard by elected leaders.
Lawren Cline
Just 46 percent of people eligible to vote cast ballots in the 2022 midterm elections, according to the Pew Research Center. Though midterms tend to have lower turnout, nearly 1 in 10 who were registered to vote did not cast a ballot in the 2024 presidential election either, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Cline has never considered not voting. He certainly never expected the habit would earn him a spot in the West Virginia Voter Hall of Fame. The West Virginia Secretary of State’s office inducts residents who have voted in every election for 50 consecutive years. Cline says he's missed only a couple elections due to overseas military service.
Voting was something Cline committed to because he learned its value early. Long before he was old enough to vote, he saw firsthand how public decisions could shape everyday life.
He remembers when the 3½ mile dirt road in front of his family’s farm was so narrow that two cars couldn’t drive past each other without one backing into a driveway. When he was about 7 years old, a local road-widening project led by the state’s road commission changed that, he says.
Farmers moved their fences back so crews could clear the roadside banks, creating enough space for two vehicles to fit. Later, the state covered the road with gravel before finally paving it in 1970, fully connecting farms through the countryside.
Military service in Germany also reinforced Cline’s appreciation for democracy.
Cline was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Germany while it was partly under Soviet occupation. What he experienced overseas gave him an appreciation for democracy when he returned home.
Lawren Simmons
As a young Army soldier surveilling the border that divided East and West Germany, he could see over the fence to the communist side, where people lived hardscrabble lives and had little voice in how they were governed.
“Those people were very poor,” Cline says. “It would take them all day with two oxen to plow a garden. Of course, [back home] we had tractors at that time, and we could plow a garden in half an hour.”
The experience gave him a deeper appreciation not only for the life he had in the states but also for the freedoms that came with it, including the right to vote.
Decades later, he still has his 1968 voter registration card, which marked his change in status from draftee to active voter.
He has voted in every election since, never taking that right for granted. When a car accident fractured his ribs and left his wife in the hospital a day before the 2023 election, he voted. A friend drove him to the polls so he could cast his ballot.
“I’ve always enjoyed going out and voting,” Cline says. “It’s a privilege. Maybe I could say it was an honor to go about that.”
In October, Cline received recognition for 50-plus years of consecutive voting from Kris Warner, West Virginia’s secretary of state. The secretary’s office honors those who’ve shown a lifelong commitment to voting in its Voter Hall of Fame.
Courtesy Gerald Cline
Hall of Fame inductee
Inadvertently, his 50-plus years of voting drew the attention of the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office. In October, Secretary Kris Warner presented Cline with his Voter Hall of Fame certificate in front of Wilcox Chapel at the former university where Cline had worked.
His voting record is “an incredible accomplishment and [shows] commitment to our election process,” Warner said in a statement to AARP.
And Cline is already gearing up to add another year to his record.
He’s planning to vote on Nov. 3 at his usual polling place, where he’s on a first-name basis with many of the workers.
And for anyone planning to sit out this election, Cline has a simple response: “Every vote counts,” he says. “You can’t complain if you don’t vote.”
Join Our Fight to Make Sure Your Vote Counts
AARP is a nonpartisan organization that never supports or opposes candidates for office. We believe the right to vote is fundamental, and we advocate for policies ensuring that Americans 50 and older can exercise that right without unnecessary barriers. Here’s what you can do to help:
- Learn more about voting in your state this year.
- Pledge to vote for candidates in 2026 who will protect and strengthen Social Security and support family caregivers.
- Sign up to become an AARP activist for the latest news and alerts on issues you care about.
- AARP is your fierce defender on the issues that matter to people 50-plus. Become a member or renew your membership today.
The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.
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