Process Helps Hospitalized Patients Vote in Elections

Voting is important, and our process ensures that patients who are unexpectedly in the hospital during local, state and federal elections can exercise their right to vote. All patients who are admitted to an inpatient service at any of our hospitals—making them unable to go to voting booths on election day—are eligible to use the process.

Emergency absentee ballot voting has two requirements: 

• You must be a registered voter in Virginia.
• You cannot have already applied for an absentee ballot voting.

For patients who want to exercise their right to vote, the steps are as follows: 

• The patient should speak to their social worker about getting the emergency absentee ballot application.
• The patient will choose someone they know to be their Designated Representative. This person will submit the application to their local voting office, bring the ballot to the hospital and return it to the local voting office.
• Upon returning to the voting office, the vote will be cast.

A flyer outlining the steps can also be found below. Please share it with those who you think may find it helpful.

“The right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and it is important that our patients have equal access to voting, despite being in the hospital,” said Joowon Choi, a medical student at VTCSOM (class of 2022), who is a key proponent of this process. “Being able to offer this opportunity to those who had not planned to be in the hospital will help ensure every voice is heard.”

For more information, contact Ryan Mullins at crmullins@carilionclinic.org.