92-Year-Old To Be On Ballot

Whether you live in district five or not, there's a good chance you'd be interested to see how its state House race will turn out this year. That's because there is a 92-year-old candidate on the ballot.

There are places it wouldn't be shocking to see the address of an assisted living center but listed as the residence of a political candidate is unique.

"They didn't have anyone ready for the primaries. So they thought of something to do, to get out petitions and place my name on the ballot," Dorothy Kellogg said.

Kellogg says she didn't intend to actually run for the two-year term.

Democrats in the Watertown area needed another name on the ballot. So she planned to have her name there as a placeholder. Then she'd file the correct paperwork, take her name off and replace it with another democrat.

But Kellogg, who served in the legislature in the 80s and 90s, recently received a letter saying her complete paperwork didn't make it to the Secretary of State's office by the deadline. So her name, by state law, will stay on the ballot.

Kellogg isn't guaranteeing that she'd go to Pierre. But if she wins, she isn't writing if off yet either.

Erich Schaffhauser: Do you think you could do it for two years?
Kellogg: Oh gee, I'd only be 94.
Schaffhauser: A young pup.
Kellogg: Ha ha, yeah. That reminds me I'd have to leave my dog too.

But Kellogg says details down to the dog would be taken care of. Volunteers have said they'd drive her to Pierre and help her get around. And the Democratic Party has told her she'd be a strong candidate.

But in the end, it'll boil down to how she feels and whether her health will allow her to serve as a representative once again.

"You know, when you're 92 you don't battle it. It's just the way it is. And I would love to go back. It's a place of good memories, few bad ones," Kellogg said.

Kellogg says response from the public has been positive so far. She's already had people asking her for yard signs to display.