How to Bring the Ballot to Aging Americans

Route Fifty: Kathleen Henry, 80, wants all her neighbors to vote, even if they can’t drive, read or remember as much anymore.

Soon after the former civics teacher moved to the Greenspring retirement community here in 2003, she took a leading role in running the campus’s polling place and registering voters.

Just this year, Henry said, she’s registered 72 residents as new voters. If a resident doesn’t have an up-to-date government form of identification — as is the case for 18 percent of citizens over 65 — Henry works to bring in a county official to take their picture to comply with Virginia’s voter ID law.

Read article