Should We Feel Bad for the 86-Year-Old Veteran Who Could Not Vote with His Veterans Card in Ohio?

Think Progress is making a big deal of this Cleveland Plain Dealer story about an 86 year old voter who could not vote with his Veterans id card because it contains no address. Think Progress says that the voter “can’t vote.”

But, under the Ohio law, the voter could have provided a number of documents without a photo, including a utility bill. And even if he does not have that, he could have cast a provisional ballot after signing an affidavit of identity. And if, as he claimed, he needed assistance in reading the small print on the provisional ballot, federal law guarantees him a right to assistance.  He says the reason he didn’t use the provisional ballot was because he was “perturbed” by then.

Ohio may have no good reason for its identification law. But this is hardly a compelling case of disenfranchisement.

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