Heart surgery doesn't stop voter in Wisconsin

A Milwaukee man who came to after heart surgery and demanded a ballot has been allowed to vote.

Janis Strucel of Allenton says her father called her about 8 a.m. Tuesday and said he was having chest pains. He was rushed into surgery an hour later and had a stent put in.

When he came to a few hours later, 69-year-old Terry Kopplin asked to vote. Strucel says she and her family called Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker's campaign to see what to do.

Strucel says a friend picked up Kopplin's ballot, and the lifelong Republican voted at the hospital — for Walker.

"He has set a fine example for his seven children and his sixteen grandchildren. He takes our right to vote very seriously; a privilege that defines our nation as a democracy," Strucel told msnbc.com in an interview via Facebook. "My son is also in the United States Military defending this right and I could not be more proud of my father or my son Adam."

Walker rode tax-cut promises to victory over Democrat Tom Barrett later that evening.

Wisconsin Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney says Wisconsin law allows hospitalized voters to request absentee ballots until 5 p.m. on Election Day.