A new report and analysis from the Election Research Institute (ERI) has provided alarming new evidence of voter fraud taking place in nursing homes and highlighted the legal loopholes being used to take advantage of vulnerable senior citizens.
As ERI explains, pandemic-era changes to nursing home regulations have created conditions ripe for abuse. Specifically, in 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) instructed nursing homes to “interpret federal rule §483.10(b), ‘The resident has the right to exercise his or her rights as a resident of the facility and as a citizen or resident of the United States,’ to mean that the staff must assist residents with applying for absentee or mail ballots and completing a ballot.”
This change instantly created ample potential for bad actors to hijack the votes of nursing home residents. But Executive Order 14019, issued by President Biden shortly after he took office, has made this problem even worse. According to that Order, every federal agency – including CMS – must partner with White House-approved NGOs to conduct get-out-the-vote efforts.
Because CMS controls the flow of federal dollars to nursing homes – to the tune of about $100 billion annually – facilities have little choice but to comply. As a result, nursing home staff and unknown individuals from shadowy nonprofits have been allowed to “help” residents register to vote and fill out their ballots without any effective oversight from election officials or other trusted registered agents like family members and close friends.
The threat of voter fraud from this dangerously unaccountable and unsecure system is not just theoretical. ERI lays out four separate examples where nursing home residents have become the victims of voter fraud schemes since the initial CMS rule change in 2020 – undoubtedly just a few of many such cases.
In one instance from Texas, a social worker was “charged with 134 felony counts involving election fraud for unlawfully registering residents of the Mexia State Supported Living Center.” In another, a resident who was labeled “not capable” upon admission to a nursing home in May 2020 voted for the very first time despite being bedridden and unable to walk.
In 2021, furthermore, an investigation in Wisconsin found that nursing home “residents were illegally assisted with ‘marking’ their ballots by nursing home staff and administrators,” and “investigators suspected forgery of residents’ signature by nursing home staff.” Lucy Corrato, a 91-year-old woman who had not voted for 30 years, was shocked to find after the 2020 election that “the county election office received and counted a ballot in her name.”
ERI’s report underscores the urgency of this issue ahead of a pivotal election this November. “The documented cases of exploitation of these vulnerable nursing home residents are heartbreaking,” ERI Executive Director Heather Honey said in a statement. “We must prioritize the protection of this population to ensure they are not victimized. Likewise, nursing home staff should not be pressured by federal agencies to conduct get-out-the-vote activities.”
Unfortunately, vulnerable elders continue to be prime targets for dangerous and un-American electioneering schemes. That is why AMAC Action has and continues to partner with organizations like ERI to be an advocate for reform to these rules.
Our leaders must be held to account and take action to protect seniors, and especially nursing home residents, from this egregious type of abuse. Every eligible voter, no matter his or her age, should be protected from fraud and should be free to vote or not vote without any outside pressure.
