ATLANTA — Despite entering hospice care over a year ago, Jimmy Carter refuses to miss an election.

At 99 years of age, the former president cast a mail-in ballot for the May primary election this week, grandson Jason Carter said Wednesday on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Monica Pearson Show.

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

Jason Carter said he confided in his grandfather last weekend that he’s never sure how to respond when asked how the former president is doing.

“He kind of laughed a little bit, and he looked at me, and he said: ‘I don’t know myself,’” Jason Carter said. “But I think he’s OK. You know, he’s hanging in there, and he knows he’s not in charge. So he’s just waiting for what’s next.”

Over the past year, Jimmy Carter celebrated his 99th birthday in October and attended the annual peanut festival. He entered hospice care in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, just over a year ago. He also mourned the loss of his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who passed away last November at age 96.

“When she passed, it was really hard for him,” Jason Carter said. “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 was ultimately really proud that he was with her until the end,” Jason Carter said. “But for the rest of us, she was such a rock for our family in so many ways.”

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