As the Trump administration seeks to crack down on potential voter fraud in nursing homes, an election watchdog group is providing additional information to long-term care facilities, citing several past criminal cases involving political operatives and staff who took advantage of vulnerable elderly residents.
A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services memo from late July cited two major cases in recent years, one out of Texas and another out of Wisconsin, involving elderly people being exploited in long-term care facilities for collecting votes.
The memo says facilities have a “responsibility to preserve residents’ rights to vote and to promote participation in the democratic process.” But says, “this activity should not violate federal or state voting laws.” And that staff “cannot engage in inappropriate coercion or other violations of residents’ rights.”
“Residents who require assistance to vote should have the option of receiving assistance from the person of their choosing and should be offered the option of receiving assistance from their authorized representative,” the CMS memo says.
The Election Integrity Network released a toolkit for instructing senior facilities on how to comply with the CMS guidance.
Among other things, the toolkit suggests facilities or caregivers avoid assumptions and ensure a resident expresses interest in voting; refer that interest promptly to a designated voting coordinator; and protect the resident’s choice and ensure there is no pressure to vote for or against a candidate.
Magan McCreary previously worked at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities in Texas, Connecticut, and Rhode Island before becoming an executive assistant at the Election Integrity Network. She was surprised at what she saw.
“I’ve seen coercion from state volunteers saying ‘this is how I would vote.’ I didn’t stay at a facility after I saw social workers filling out ballots,” McCreary told the Daily Signal. “There is a lack of education about the vulnerability, and too many see it as less of a civic duty and more of something to cross off the activity box. There is a breakdown in the training.”
Concerns about election integrity, voter intimidation or undue influence in nursing homes long predate the Trump administration.
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