Voter ID laws affect nursing home residents
2/8/08
Sidebar 3, Paper ballots: cure or catastrophe?
Menorah Park residents almost didn’t get to vote in 2006 and 2007, thanks to Ohio’s Voter ID laws.
“Most Menorah Park residents do not have drivers’ licenses or any of the other forms of ID” like gas or other utility bills required for voting, explains Shawn Fink, of Menorah Park’s activities department.
According to the League of Women Voters, 18% of people over 65 don’t have photo IDs. That’s about six million Americans.
In 2006, as residents waited by the polls conveniently located in Menorah Park itself, staff was able to come to a resolution with precinct judges, who accepted the census kept by Menorah Park’s social work department.
The next year, things didn’t go as smoothly. The judges did not want to accept the social work census, and the home had to make several calls to the CCBOE before the issue was resolved.
The day I spoke with him, Fink had been on the phone with the CCBOE trying in advance of the primary to get a letter to show precinct judges. He said several people, including CCBOE workers, have suggested that Menorah Park residents vote absentee, as residents at Montefiore do. Poll workers come to Montefiore to help residents fill out absentee ballots, according to Molly Spencer, activities director.
Fink wants Menorah Park residents to have the chance to vote in person. "There are so many things residents can't do because of restrictions placed on them by health, age, and mobility,"says Fink. "Voting is something they can do and want to do," which is "why we have the precinct polls at Menorah Park in the first place," he explains. "Residents (who) are naturalized citizens particularly cherish their right to vote."
-- L. H.
See also:
•Main story: Paper ballots: cure or catastrophe?
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