Trump Admin Moves to Protect Nursing Home Voters from Fraud, Coercion– slaynews.com

The Trump administration is moving to protect elderly nursing home residents from voter fraud and coercion, pointing to past cases in which vulnerable seniors were allegedly exploited by political operatives or facility staff.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued guidance in late July reminding long-term care facilities that residents have a right to vote while warning that staff cannot engage in coercion or violate federal and state election laws.

The Election Integrity Network has now released a toolkit designed to help nursing homes and caregivers comply with the federal guidance while protecting residents from improper influence.

Vulnerable Seniors Targeted in Past Election Cases

The CMS memo makes clear that nursing home residents retain their voting rights and that facilities have a “responsibility to preserve residents’ rights to vote and to promote participation in the democratic process.”

But the agency also warned that “this activity should not violate federal or state voting laws” and that staff “cannot engage in inappropriate coercion or other violations of residents’ rights.”