Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Feel Good Story of the Day: Brooklynite Who Voted Illegally Can Vote Again

May 24th, 2007 · No Comments

We don’t get to see too many of Jotham Sederstrom’s stories online because the NY Daily News still has a pretty dysfunctional website after suffering a series of “improvements,” so we figured we’d point out one of today’s, which is actually up online. It’s about a man who those with long memories might remember, John O’Hara, a lawyer and “political gadfly” who was convicted of illegally voting a decade ago. Given that so many Americans don’t bother to vote at all, it’s quite an achievement to want to vote so badly that you break the law to do so and end up with 1,500 hours of community service and five years of probation, not to mention getting disbarred. Dear God. Mr. Sederstrom writes:

O’Hara, a five-time candidate for public office who was convicted of illegal voting in 1997 and disbarred from practicing law, waltzed into the Board of Elections office in Brooklyn and registered to vote without a hitch.

“It feels great. I’m very happy,” O’Hara said after filling out a voter registration card at 345 Adams St. “Being disbarred, being on probation – that was all rough, but not being able to vote was the worst punishment of all.”

He says he might want to run for District Attorney.

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