MOUNT PLEASANT — A local man wasn’t allowed to use his veteran’s card to vote in Tuesday’s primary and he’s pretty steamed about it.

Gil Paar, 69, of Mount Pleasant, said he went to his polling place, Peace Lutheran Church, and when asked by poll workers to provide the ID, he handed over his U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs card. The poll workers said the ID, which includes Paar’s photo, wasn’t considered an acceptable form of identification under the state’s new voter ID law, Paar says. They asked him if he had a driver’s license he could offer. He did, he said. But he refused to show it and didn’t vote.

“Basically I was trying to make a point,” Paar said. “I gave them four years of my life, why shouldn’t I be able to use my vet’s card?”

Paar said he was shocked to learn that the card, which he uses to receive his VA benefits, isn’t an acceptable form of ID under the law, noting that VA cards are the only form of identification some veterans have. He has already reached out to the VA about the problem as well as to the offices of Sen. Herb Kohl and state Rep. Robert Turner, D-Racine, he said.