From the Associated Press:

Nursing homes, notorious places for voter fraud, need greater guidance on how to help residents vote, senators and voter advocates say.

Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, said he and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., planned to ask the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to develop nationwide voting guidelines for state election officials and nursing home staffs.

… About one in five votes in the 2004 presidential election was cast by someone 65 or older. By 2040, it is anticipated about 40 percent of voters will be 65 or older.

About 10 percent of older Americans live in nursing homes or long-term care facilities. Whether they can vote can have political ramifications. Battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Florida have a high proportion of elderly residents.

Jason Karlawish, a professor of medicine and medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, testified before Kohl’s committee that 29 states have no guidelines for voting accommodations for residents of long term care facilities.

… “As people live longer and acquire disabilities associated with age, many of them need help, and we need to make sure we take into consideration that people who have disabilities, whether they’re physical or some level of mental disability, that we don’t provide barriers in their ability to vote,” Kohl said.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 6:36 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, disabilities, elderly, law, politics, voting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post