COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Central Ohio’s three big hospital groups and the Franklin County Board of Elections (FCBOE) are working together to make sure patients hospitalized on Election Day still have the opportunity to vote.
The opportunity has been available in previous elections, but this year more measures are in place because of the pandemic.
“We’ve done everything we can to make sure that if we do have a hospitalized voter that wants to cast a ballot, we’re really prepared to execute that seamlessly in partnership with the board of elections,” said Jeff Kasler, director of Government Relations with OhioHealth.
OhioHealth, Mount Carmel, and the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center (OSUWMC) all participated in a call on Tuesday with the FCBOE about the patient voting process.
“It’s a pretty robust effort from both the board of elections and from our internal communications, so I think we feel pretty good about where we sit right now,” said Kasler.
According to a spokesperson for the FCBOE, the hospitals typically send over lists of patients wanting to vote on Election Day.
This year those lists will be sent over earlier. Patients hospitalized after noon on Saturday must submit a special absentee ballot application by 3 p.m. on Election Day, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
Patients already hospitalized who are worried they won’t be able to vote in person on Election Day should submit an absentee ballot application through the regular process right away if they haven’t yet.
Chapter Five of the Secretary of State’s Election Official Manual outlines voting while hospitalized on page 14. Family members are allowed to deliver the absentee ballot to a patient and return it. It must be returned at the board of elections office, not a precinct polling location. Two board of elections employees, one from each party, may also deliver and return ballots.
Some employees at the OSUWMC are being deputized as elections officials so board of elections employees do not have to go into the hospital. According to Annie Marsico, director of Local Government and Community Relations at the OSUWMC, this is being done to minimize the number of people in and out of the hospital.
“It allows our patients to have a voice still and not be limited by their circumstances that were unforeseeable,” she said. “We want to do everything we can to ensure they have that opportunity.”
Kasler says at OhioHealth, employees have been informed more this year about elections procedures and have been more proactive about giving patients non-partisan educational information.
“We’ve equipped all of our nurse managers, patient services and volunteer services at each of our hospitals with all the appropriate forms a patient might need,” he said.
If hospitalized COVID-19 patients want to vote and physically need help voting, all three hospital groups have plans in place so elections officials can witness it safely.
“At the end of the day, the goal is everyone is safe and patients have the right to vote. It looks a lot different this year just like everything looks a lot different this year,” said Jason Koma, regional director of Government Affairs with Mount Carmel. “But at the end of the day, that’s what’s most important is that people have the right to have their voice heard.”
Some patients are hospitalized outside of the county they live in. If that’s the case, the absentee voter can receive and return the absentee ballot through a family member or by mail, according to the Secretary of State’s Election Official Manual.
