She briefly moved to second on the list when the record keepers found a woman in Brazil who was 48 days older, but Maria Gomes Valentim died in June 2011, just weeks before her 115th birthday.

The oldest person to have ever lived, according to Guinness World Records, was Jeanne Louise Calment. She died in southern France in 1997 at the age of 122.

As for her voting record, Besse Cooper didn't vote this year. Neither she nor her husband voted in 1948. They thought Thomas Dewey was a shoo-in.

Besse Cooper is survived by four children, 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.