The Right to Vote -- Even for People with Dementia

By Carol Bradley Bursack, Health Guide Tuesday, June 19, 2007

- A
- A
- A

Today's New York Times article titled “States Face Decisions on Who Is Mentally Fit to Vote,” by Pam Belluck, affected me far more strongly than I would have guessed, had I been told the article was being written. Throughout a good portion of my mother’s adult year...

Read the rest of this post >>

Elders and Heat: Ten Steps To Stay Safe

Hide Comments | Add comment

Maureen Curran

6/19/07 6:49pm

Women have been voting for less than a hundred years in this country. It used to be that only white males could vote in the U.S. because men of color and all women were considered intellectually incapable of "understanding the issues and candidates."

The whole idea of again discriminating against whole classes of people and eliminating their rights to participate, their right to be heard, is disgraceful and extremely dangerous.

Carol Bradley Bursack, Health Guide

6/19/07 7:06pm

Well said, Maureen! Thanks for the support.

Carol

K L Arora

6/20/07 1:45pm

Surely, dementia too has many stages of severity with perhaps only the last few ones rendering the affected persons incapable of making an informed choice. Depriving the whole class of dementia sufferers from voting rights therefore does seem to be unfair and discriminatory.

At the same time however it is worth pondering how many family members would really be as objective and neutral as Carol was. Most, perhaps, would probably influence the patients' opinionsin line with their own, even is uncosciosly so, and this too would seem to be unfair.

A compromise solution would perhaps be to not ban them from voting but to not allow postal ballot , to ensure that they are at least conscious of whom they are voting for when they are physically present at voting time.

Krishan

Carol Bradley Bursack, Health Guide

6/20/07 4:09pm

Hi Krishan,

That is a good point, and one I took seriously. There came a time, with my dad, when I felt he was no longer able to understand what he was doing. At that point, it wasn't in his interest to push voting. When Dad was still voting, my mother was quite good mentally, and we did it as a threesome. I could have been more clear about the chronology of events in my article.

Always, with a vulnerable person, there is the possibiltiy that someone may sway them. However, where do we draw the line? Who decides when someone can no longer exercise his or her right to vote? It's a very difficult descision.

If a person cannot physically walk into a voting booth and vote alone, someone needs to help. That person needs to be open about it and let others know what they are doing. I was very open, even to the point of informing aides on duty that we were voting. I felt more like it was "above board" by doing that. Thanks so much for your comment.

Carol

K L Arora

6/21/07 2:54pm

Hi Carol,

Thanks for the clarification.

I had mentioned earlier too that I appreciated your objectivity and neutrality while your parents decided on the best persons to vote for, but I wonder how many others in your position would really refrain from influencing their parents'decisions, even if this is done so unwittingly!

You are right about physically infirm people needing to be helped in casting their votes. What I had mentioned however was that patients when they are apparently not conscious about whom to vote for, and why, should not vote during such times. At such times these patients would generally also not be in a position to make it to the voting booths. It was then, in view of this, that I had suggested the compromise solution of disallowing postal ballots but allowing all those to vote who could consciously make it to the voting booths.

With best wishes for your parents and you too - since you as the carer are facing a tough, thankless job!

Krishan

Carol Bradley Bursack, Health Guide

6/21/07 3:06pm

I agree that there is definitely a point when people can't make the decisions need to vote. They should be aware of what they are doing, or it is meaningless and certainly subject to abuse.

There are many tough decisions in caregiving, as you are aware, Krishan. We make them as we go, based on the best information we have at the time - and gut instict. Caregiving is a daily challenge. We do the best we can. I truly appreciate your interest and wisdom. You are a caring person.

Carol

Anonymous

6/21/07 4:08am

Dear Ms.Carol Bradley Bursack,

Thank you for your interesting and informative comments on the NYT article.

I am a geriatrician of the clinic and an adviser of the Alzheimer's Associaion Japan in Kyoto, Japan.

In my country people with dementia is rapidly incresing too.

In 2000, the new program of Long Term Care Insurance was introduced and social services for them have been improving.

And restraints for them are prohibited under the law.

Furthermore, the new low of prevenetion of elder abuse took effect last year.

However, the right of vote by people with dementia has not been discussed at all.

Under these sircumstances, illegal votes in facilities for them happen.

I hope that your comment will promote the better right of vote by people with dementia in Japan as well as in the USA.

Thank your again.

with best regards,

MIYAKE yoshio M.D.

Kyoto, Japan

Carol Bradley Bursack, Health Guide

6/21/07 7:44am

I appreciate your kind comments, Doctor. It is so important to protect the rights of those who cannot fight for themselves. All of us, worldwide, who care about these people, need to speak up for them.

June 15th was Elder Abuse Awareness Day, which I wrote about in my other blog. The right to vote could certainly be abused in a facility, as could the ballot of an unsuspecting, vunerable person.

I feel that, in general, family caregivers are the best direct advocates for their loved ones, but we can't do it alone. We need professionals like you to stand up for us all.

Once again, thank you for writing.

Carol

Lara Belonogoff

6/28/07 7:41pm

This entire issue seems to be underpinned by one phrase mentioned above which is doing the best we can. The idea that caregiving is doing our best reminds me of what many parents say about child-rearing, but is in fact what (we hope at least) is how we go on with living our life. Elimination of entire groups from certain rights is something that we cannot do as most often it is morally objectionable or it becomes too difficult to decide who within a group is on which side of the proverbial fence. So with the possibility of “abuse” of a system, like voting, we decide to not infringe on others’ rights. The risk is either we allow people whose sanity is “questionable” to vote OR no one with a dementia diagnosis is allowed to vote. (And yes, there is a third option which is we regulate it, which will lead usually to a point where the bureaucracy will normally drown itself—and that usually/ironically ends with even more abuse of the system.) As a society we “do the best we can” and hope that we have allowed citizens who pose no threat to others to go about their lives as they see fit—and in this case that means not taking away a dementia patients right to vote.

Thanks for the posting, Carol, it is an immensely important topic on its own and also in a larger context.

Carol Bradley Bursack, Health Guide

6/29/07 7:37am

Thank you, Lara, for your eloquent response.

Carol

The Right to Vote -- Even for People with Dementia

Ask a Question