Vulnerable Voters: Letter to Nursing Homes

Dear Nursing Home Director/Adult Care Facility Director:

The right to free and fair elections is the foundation of our country. Many of our seniors have made invaluable contributions to all of our freedoms, and have even gone to war to protect them. Protecting their votes, no matter who they vote for or what party they support, is a moral imperative for all of us.

Yet there are many cases reported and prosecuted nationwide indicating that the ballots and political voices of many of our treasured seniors are particularly vulnerable to intimidation, manipulation and even outright fraud.

As a long-term care facilities director, we know that protecting your residents’ votes is a key priority for you.

There are two important groups that must be engaged to protect the votes of residents in long term care facilities. The first is your valued facility leadership and care staff, and the second, your residents and their family members. Below are some suggestions and resources for you to address vote security with both groups.

· ∙ Please visit https://protectvulnerablevoters.org/protect-elderly-votes/ where you can find a “Senior Citizen Voter Bill of Rights.” This organization, American Constitutional Right Union, has provided this Guide as a tool and resource for anyone to download and use to inform both facility staff and residents.

· ∙ You can also use this short video on “Stranger Danger” also provided by ACRU to open a dialogue about protecting senior voters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNPwxpT6TzE or search “ACRU YouTube Stranger Danger.”

· · ∙ To help understand the laws of North Carolina that govern senior voting, please refer to North Carolina General Statutes sections 163-226.3 and 231, North Carolina Administrative Code sections 08-18.0101 and 08-18.0102, and North Carolina State Board of Elections ("NCSBOE")

· Numbered Memo 2022-11. These provisions govern requests for and submission of absentee-by-mail ballots. "Ballot harvesting" of absentee-by-mail ballots (i.e., the collection of ballots from voters with or without payment) is prohibited by North Carolina law. The county Boards of Election appoint members of multi-party assistance teams ("MAT teams") comprised of two members not of the same party, to provide assistance to those voters who request the Board's help in voting by mail. Two assistants may be required because absentee-by-mail ballots are required to have two witnesses (or a notarization) to the voter's marking of the ballot and signature. However, a disabled voter may request and receive assistance from any person in applying for, completing and delivering their ballot to their county Board of Elections. The completed mail-in ballot can be sent to the county Board by US Mail or a public courier service. It can be also be hand delivered to the county Board by an assistant to the voter, but the assistant must identify himself, the voter and state his/her relationship to the voter to the county Board at the time of delivery, as well as provide his/her address, phone number and signature.

· The North Carolina State Board of Elections ("NCSBOE") also has a vote fraud Investigations Division that can be accessed through the NCSBOE's phone number (919-814-0700). Additional resources can be found at our your local county Board of Elections office.

· If your residents are interested in confirming their voter registration, this information can be found by calling the local Board of Elections office or by visiting the NCSBOE website

(ncsbe.gov), which has a Voter Search button/tool on its homepage requiring only the county to be searched and the name of the voter in order to find the voter's registration status.

· Your residents and their families can also track an absentee ballot at: northcarolina.ballottrax.net/voter/; however, this service must be accessed through a link on the NCSBOE's website. You can find the link by searching "ballot tracking". By signing up with Ballottrax (using basic voter information) the voter is sent notices of the status of his/her ballot.

If your residents are interested in confirming their voter registration, this information can be found at your local county Board of Elections office or may be easily accessed at www.VoteRef.com which has a voter database in North Carolina.

As engaged citizens, we hope this brings you awareness to some of the vulnerabilities of senior voting, the laws governing them, and to partner with you to make sure all of your staff and residents are aware of the importance of protecting every citizen’s ballot.

We hope you will find the above information valuable, and that these resources will aid you as you take an active role in protecting resident votes. We hope we can be a resource to you.

Thank you for what you do for our seniors, and for your review of the above information.

Sincerely,

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This was the original model letter.

Dear (make sure you use the person’s name)

As a long-term care facilities director, we know that protecting your residents’ votes is a key priority for you, and our non-partisan citizen group _______ would be honored to assist and provide resources to you in this important effort.

· ∙ To help understand the laws of OUR STATE that govern senior voting, please visit THESE STATUTES. (Give a quick overview of the laws including those for ballot trafficking, “assisting” voters with ballots, any criminal penalties that may apply and specific steps and requirements for absentee ballots.)

· ∙ OUR STATE also has a vote fraud hotline that can be accessed at: 000-000-0000. Additional resource can be found at our COUNTY/CITY election office at PHONE and WEBSITE.

· ∙ If your residents are interested in confirming their voter registration, this information can be found at COUNTY OR ELECTION OFFICE NUMBER AND WEBSITE or may be easily accessed at www.VoteRef.com which has a voter database in OUR STATE.

· ∙ Your residents and their families can also track an absentee ballot at https://ballottrax.com/. (Check to see if your state or county is a member of BallotTrax.)

As engaged citizens, OUR GROUP is here to bring awareness to some of the vulnerabilities of senior voting, the laws governing them, and to partner with you to make sure all of your staff and residents are aware of the importance of protecting every citizen’s ballot.

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We hope you will find the above information valuable, and that these resources will aid you as you take an active role in protecting resident votes. If you have any further questions, or if there is any other information, we can provide you please contact me at CONTACT IINFORMATION.

NAME will be calling you soon as a follow up to this letter to arrange a meeting on this important topic, and we will look forward to scheduling that at your earliest convenience.

NAME will be calling you soon as a follow up to this letter to arrange a meeting with you on this important topic, which we will look forward to scheduling at your earliest convenience. We hope that we can work with you and your activities director to provide your staff and residents with a short, informative and patriotic and non-partisan session on how best to make sure every ballot at YOUR FACILITY is received and counted by YOUR LOCAL ELECTION OFFICE.

Thank you for what you do for our seniors, and for your review of the above information.

Mary Jones ANYTOWN County Election Integrity Task Force Vulnerable Voters Committee PHONE and EMAIL

Vulnerable Voters: Letter to Nursing Homes

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