David M. Levy L’48 Professor of Law Nina Kohn recently spoke with AARP for their article “Nursing Home Residents Could Tip Elections, if They Find a Way to Vote” which examined roadblocks to voting that nursing home and other long-term care residents encounter along with laws that protect their voting rights.
Kohn touched on the barrier that nursing home staff may present. “If staff don’t see voting as something that is important for residents — whether that’s because they don’t think residents are the type of people who can or should vote, or whether because they themselves are not politically active, then they may simply not place priority on voting.”
On voter eligibility, she says “As long as a person can express a voting preference, they have capacity to vote. And of course, that is effectively the standard that we hold people without a diagnosis of dementia to.”
Being able to vote gives nursing home and long-term care facility residents a voice in issues affecting their lives. “Most nursing home residents are not in a position to march in a protest. They’re not in a position to knock on doors or show up at their elected representative’s offices. The one thing they can do is vote,” Kohn says. “It’s a badge of belonging and citizenship, and it’s, in many cases, the last source of power.”