Next medical visit: Do you smoke? Are you safe at home? Are you registered to vote?
Next medical visit: Do you smoke? Are you safe at home? Are you registered to vote?
VotER and Kansas Hospital Association are pushing voter registration in hospitals and clinics
Updated Jan. 5 with responses from Kansas Hospital Association.
Updated Jan. 9 with additional information about AMA resolution from June 2022.
At beginning of medical visit …
During the social history part of your next medical checkup you might just hear:
At the end …
Similar conversation can occur at the end of a medical visit …
Even on a telehealth call …
View the training video for medical professionals on how they might approach patients in clinical or hospital settings to start the discussion of voter registration:
After the the topic of voter registration starts, the discussion can be steered to the “power of their vote”:
Discharge papers
Your discharge papers from a hospital might include a flyer about voter registration. Or perhaps you’ll receive stickers with such information.
From the Kansas Hospital Association’s VotER “Advocacy” page:
QR Codes and Tracking
VotER encourages health professionals to wear a VotER badge with other credentials on a lanyard. Sharing the QR code on the badge can connect a patient with TurboVote.
Once registered with VotER you can “Track your Impact” to see how many registrations and mail ballots requests were initiated through your VotER badge.
TurboVote and Democracy Works
The VotER QR code redirects to the TurboVote site to register a new voter, or to request a mail ballot.
TuroVote is a product of Democracy Works, which is a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Democracy Works receives progressive funding from a number of sources, including $4.6 million — the ninth largest recipient — from Pierre Omidyar’s Democracy Fund.
Other VotER details can be seen in the Administration Slide Deck from May 2022, which was used to prepare for “Civic Health Month” in Aug. 2022.
Note VotER participation by the Kansas Hospital Association is featured on the second slide:
VotER and Kansas Hospitals and Clinics
A recent vot_er_org Instagram posting announced VotER had expanded to over 700 hospitals and clinics since 2020.
VotER Across the US shows these participating Kansas organizations:
Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas
Greenwood County Hospital
Holton Community Hospital
Kansas Hospital Association
Lawrence Memorial Hospital
Southwest Medical Center
Sunflower Medical Group
University of Kansas Health System
Vibrant Health
Is voting a “social determinant” of health?
“Civic Health” and voting as a “social determinant” of health are used as reasons for voter registration at medical facilities.
New England Journal of Medicine commentary says “yes”
”…health care facilities are underutilized as vehicles for voter registration.”
”Such clinic based efforts have been further expanded to the system level, most notably in the Vot-ER Healthy Democracy Campaign.”
American Medical Association says “yes”
On June 13, 2022 the AMA House of Delegates passed a resolution that “voting is a social determinant of health,” which is far from a scientific study. The resolution cited the correlation between civic engagement and positive health outcomes.
The AMA Policy, “Support for Safe and Equitable Access to Voting H-440.805, is as follows:
1. Our AMA supports measures to facilitate safe and equitable access to voting as a harm-reduction strategy to safeguard public health and mitigate unnecessary risk of infectious disease transmission by measures including but not limited to: (a) extending polling hours; (b) increasing the number of polling locations; (c) extending early voting periods; (d) mail-in ballot postage that is free or prepaid by the government; (e) adequate resourcing of the United States Postal Service and election operational procedures; (f) improved access to drop off locations for mail-in or early ballots; and (g) use of a P.O. box for voter registration.
2. Our AMA opposes requirements for voters to stipulate a reason in order to receive a ballot by mail and other constraints for eligible voters to vote-by-mail.
3. Our AMA: (a) acknowledges voting is a social determinant of health and significantly contributes to the analyses of other social determinants of health as a key metric; (b) recognizes that gerrymandering which disenfranchises individuals/communities limits access to health care, including but not limited to the expansion of comprehensive medical insurance coverage, and negatively impacts health outcomes; and (c) will collaborate with appropriate stakeholders and provide resources to firmly establish a relationship between voter participation and health outcomes.
A draft copy of the resolution from May 13, 2022 provides additional insights.
How can any voter be helped from whatever malady afflicts them simply by voting?
Can voting provide relief for all 70,000 ICD-10 diagnosis codes used in medicine? This seems more like the proclamation of social engineers and political activists than a serious scientific study.
Why are medical professionals not focused on medicine that heals patients?
Reason Magazine says AMA is “woke”
The American Medical Association Would Like Doctors To Use Woke Jargon
The American Medical Association (AMA) is the paramount advocate, lobbyist, and trade association of doctors and other medical professionals. Its influence in the health care industry cannot be overstated. And it just released a report, co-signed by the Association of American Medical College's Center for Health Justice, titled "Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts."
The report contains different sorts of advice for making health care more equitable. But it mostly focuses on language. And unfortunately, its authors were clearly influenced by the same kind of progressive activists whose jargon has infected academia. The guidance ranges from bad to actively harmful.
Heritage Foundation says AMA is “woke”
American Medical Association Compromised by Radical Ideology
The AMA has veered leftward for some time, but it has slipped into full cultural revolution mode in the past few years.
VotER founder
VotER was incorporated in Massachusetts on Feb. 10, 2021 by Dr. Alister Martin, who was a White House Fellow from Aug. 2021 through Oct. 2022. Martin was placed at the Office of the Vice President and the White House Office of Public Engagement.
White House visitor logs show Martin met with President Joe Biden once, and Vice President Kamala Harris twice. Martin hosted about 80 visitors from May 2022 through Aug. 2022.
Who funds VotER?
VotER received its IRS determination letter as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit on Dec. 1, 2021.
According to Massachusetts corporation records VotER changed its name to A Healthier Democracy on July 7, 2022.
IRS 990s give clues about donors. The largest known donor is The Jacob and Valeria Langeloth foundation with a $350K gift.
The Arabella Advisors’ “dark money” Windward fund gave $200K in grants of $100K each in 2021 (p. 29) and 2022 (p. 74). It’s unclear why Windward in both years said the grant was for “environmental programs.”
Other dark money sources include NEO Philanthropy ($200K with $100K both in 2021 and 2022) and Tides Foundation ($25K).
Other donors include Community Catalyst ($90K), Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta ($120K), Marin Community Foundation ($278K), Progressive Multiplier Fund ($50K), RX Foundation ($90K), and Ujenzi Charitable Trust ($17K).
VotER provides a list of supporters, including, ideas42, The Boston Foundation, the BerbeeWalsh Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Questions to Kansas Health Association about VotER
Ms. Cindy Samuelson, Sr. Vice President, Member and Public Relations, Kansas Hospital Association, provided responses shown below. Thank you!
Q1: What is KHA’s motivation for working with VotER to register voters in Kansas health clinics and hospitals?
A1: A number of years ago a physician member of our board of directors encouraged our participation with VotER. We have a history of encouraging voting. More at https://www.kha-net.org/Advocacy/WeCareWeVote/.
Q2: Are you collecting statistics about the number of patients registered to vote?
A2: I believe VotER national has the ability to do some statistics with VotER (such as how many register with the QR codes nationally). We do not collect any data locally.
Q3: Has KHA received any external funding for your efforts?
A3: No
Q4: Should patients have concerns when asked about voter registration at a health clinic or hospital that the facility has lost its focus on health care?
A4: Hospital staff don’t ask about voter registration. Some hospitals may just make the information available in their cafeterias or lobbies.
