Pandemic Adds Election Duties To Longterm Care Workers’ To-Do Lists

Because the Elections Commission decided it wasn’t safe to send election workers to the Four Winds Manor in Verona, Wis., the job of helping residents vote is up to the staff, according to an article on the WKOW website.

A staffer is visiting each resident of Four Winds to check if they want to vote, their voter registration status and to take absentee ballots to the clerk's office.

At a larger facility like St. Mary's Care Center in Madison,  a bigger team helps the roughly 150 residents vote.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says long-term care facilities have a responsibility to help residents vote, including assistance with filling out ballots or voter registration forms and arranging safe transportation to polling locations or ballot drop-boxes.

The pandemic has caused many healthcare facility workers to wear different hats. When Covid-19 infected 26 staff members and 30 residents, staff at Cedar Haven nursing home in Lebanon, Pa., with no previous medical training were temporarily reassigned to patient care roles, according to an article on the Lebanon Daily News website.

Read the full WKOW article.