'Not going to miss an election': Jimmy Carter voted in Georgia primary, his grandson says

Former President Jimmy Carter, who has been under hospice care for over a year, voted in Georgia’s May primary last week, his grandson said in a new interview.

Jason Carter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Monica Pearson Show,” that his grandfather cast a mail-in ballot in the race. Georgia’s May primary election date is next week, though advance voting began on April 29 in the Peach State

“He’s not going to miss an election.” Jason Carter said. “It’s important to him. I mean, that’s the person he is.”

Jason Carter told USA TODAY last year that his grandfather and President Joe Biden had been in contact “on a relatively regular basis.”

Jimmy Carter, 99, entered hospice care in February 2023. Though hospice care is often associated with the immediate end of a person’s life, it’s not always a short-term option. The Carter Center, the global charity Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter founded in 1982, announced last year that the former president would not receive “additional medical intervention.”

Jason Carter in the interview released last week said he recently told his grandfather that “people ask me every day how you’re doing, and I tell them I don’t know,” which he said prompted a laugh.

“He looked at me, and he said ‘I don’t know myself,’” Jason Carter said.

The former president's grandson added that “He’s hanging in there, and he knows he’s not in charge,” referencing Jimmy Carter's lifelong commitment to his faith.

“He may be immortal. We have not seen any evidence to the contrary,” Jason Carter joked.

Rosalynn Carter died last year at age 96. Jason Carter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his grandfather spent hours saying goodbye to his wife at the end of her life.

“He had this opportunity to say goodbye, and after that he was just totally at peace with it. And it was an incredible thing after 77 years of marriage to watch that type of closure,” he told the “Monica Pearson Show.”

Jimmy Carter attended Rosalynn Carter’s memorial services last year, though he was not well enough to speak at the tributes.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jimmy Carter voted in Georgia 2024 primary, his grandson says