She once lost the ability to write after a stroke. Monday, she signed to certify Biden's win

In July 2019, Marla Blunt-Carter suffered a stroke. She was unable to move the left side of her body. She was unable to pick up a pen, or write her name. 

On Monday morning, she wrote it nine times, helping certify Joe Biden's presidential victory. 

"To sign my name nine times, to documents that will become a part of history, is personal," Blunt-Carter said Monday. "It signifies so much."

Across the country, the 538 electors cast their votes Monday for Biden or President Donald Trump based on the popular votes in their states.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received 306 electoral votes; Trump got 232. The electoral votes will now be counted at a special joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 before Biden and Harris are inaugurated Jan. 20.

John Daniello and Marie Mayor were Delaware's other electors.

Blunt-Carter, the sister of U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, has known Biden for years. She worked as the director of constituent services for his Senate office and then worked on his 2007 presidential campaign and eventually the Obama campaign.

Her sister Lisa has played a key role in the Biden campaign. She was a part of the committee that chose Harris to be Biden's running mate, and is now on the committee to plan the inauguration. 

When Blunt-Carter suffered the stroke, Joe and Jill Biden were among the first people who called her, she said. 

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Delaware's three members of the Electoral College gathered at the Memorial Hall Gymnasium at Delaware State University to cast their votes. They wore masks and sat far apart. They followed the procedural rules, and then each said a few words.

Blunt-Carter told The News Journal Monday afternoon that she was only able to regain her penmanship recently. She went through 10 months of therapy, and on her drive to Dover on Monday morning she was practicing on her iPad. 

"I had to pause for a minute and take it all in," she said. "If I can stand here first of all without a cane and sign my name there's nothing we can't do as a nation."

The moment also represented a symbolic moment for the Blunt family. Years ago, the family learned through genealogy that a great-great-great grandfather, who was born into slavery, signed his name with an X to register to vote.

The document, found by Blunt-Carter's other sister Thea, was made into a scarf. Lisa Blunt-Rochester wore it when she was sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming the first woman and first Black person from Delaware to do so.

Blunt-Carter brought the scarf with her on Monday. She touched it right before she signed her name on the documents. 

"To know my name will be one that my children's children find one day in an archive is pretty powerful," she said. "It was signal to my ancestors that they were with me."

Contact Meredith Newman at (302) 324-2386 or at mnewman@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MereNewman.