A dedicated 94-year-old Black woman from Michigan took matters into her own hands when her mail-in ballot didn't arrive in the mail. 

In an interview with CNN on Monday, long-time Detroit resident Mildred Madison said she and her son drove 300 miles from Zion, Illinois, just so she could vote. Madison is from Detroit but has been living with her son since September 2019 and decided to stay once the coronavirus pandemic hit. 

She filled out the form to have her ballot sent to Illinois but it never arrived. The Detroit Department of Elections did not respond to requests for comment from CNN. 

"I said I had better go back to Detroit and make sure that I vote. I'm glad I did because I haven't seen a ballot yet. At least I made it. I made it and voted for the people I wanted to vote for, and I hope they win. But I felt satisfied that I was not going to miss voting," Madison said, adding that her son drove 330 miles each way on October 12. 

Her son, Julian Madison, told the news outlet that his mother has always made voting a very important part of their lives, pushing even his children to vote once they reached 18.

The 94-year-old has been politically active for decades. She was heavily involved in local Cleveland, Ohio politics, running for and winning a number of races for seats on the Cleveland Board of Education, the Ohio Board of Education and the Cleveland City Council.

As the first Black leader of the League of Women Voters in Cleveland, she was integral in bringing a 1980 presidential debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter to the city. 

"I was able to bring that debate to Cleveland in 1980. That was a great experience to be able to have big hands in the debate. I've been voting in every election, whether it was city, state, county or national for the last 72 years," she told CNN.

Mildred is far from the only person struggling with mail-in ballots. There has been confusion in some cities and areas with the mail-in ballot process, due in no small part to the problems with the U.S. Postal Service. 

Last month, there was widespread concern about the U.S. Postal Service's ability to handle the increase of mail-in ballots that would be coming in October and November, particularly after a Trump appointee took measures to damage the organization's ability to function properly.

As Blavity previously reported, it took national outcry from both Democrats and Republicans to stop Postmaster General Louis DeJoy from firing workers, cutting funding and removing sorting machines from post offices across the country. 

DeJoy, who owns holdings worth between $30.1 million and $75.3 million in direct competitors to the post office, was removing mailboxes off of the street before Congress demanded that he stop. 

The backlash forced the post office and local election authorities to beg people to send their mail-in ballots early, with Postal Service spokeswoman Martha Johnson telling The Washington Post to send it in before October 27.

Despite the enormous effort it took to vote, Mildred said this election, more than any other, was important.

"I think this is the most important vote that we've ever had. We must vote. I agree with Michelle Obama when she said go early, stand in line if you have to, take your lunch, your breakfast or lunch or whatever, do that. But make sure that you vote. You just start at 18 and keep on going to until the very end and try to vote in every election. They all count," she told CNN.

"It's not just for the president but start voting locally, statewide, county wide and also on the federal level. They all count because the power really starts right there in your community," she added.

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