Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Media, Law & Policy

‘Coronavirus Isolated Nursing Home Residents. Now It Might Keep Them From Voting.’

Wednesday, October 14, 2020, By Lily Datz
Share
COVID 19
Nina Kohn

Nina Kohn

Nina Kohn, the David M. Levy L’48 Professor of Law and faculty director of online education in the College of Law, wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post titled “Coronavirus isolated nursing home residents. Now it might keep them from voting.”

Professor Kohn is an expert on elder law and has extensively researched the civil rights of older persons. Kohn says that nursing home residents have always faced challenges voting due to “limited mobility, physical infirmity and the restrictive reality of institutional life,” but the pandemic has only exacerbated the situation.

Prior to the pandemic, nursing home residents would often receive help voting from family members or outside voter support groups. But the pandemic has halted all of this, as visitors are barred from facilities and residents are unable to risk infection by leaving to vote in-person.

While older persons have every right to vote, Kohn argues that most states and nursing home facilities are not doing as much as they could, or are legally obligated to do, to support voting efforts during the pandemic. Kohn says to rectify the situation states should facilitate supervised voting in nursing homes and must treat it as essential work.

“Voting is the only remaining source of political power for most nursing home residents. They can’t knock on doors or march; many can’t even mail a letter, send an email or make a telephone call without assistance. And the casual, all-too-tolerated disenfranchisement of nursing home residents sends the message that they are not full citizens worthy of respect,” Kohn says.

  • Author
  • Faculty Experts

Lily Datz

  • Nina Kohn

  • Recent
  • Exploring the Existence of Life at 125 Degrees Fahrenheit
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Dan Bernardi
  • Cool Class: Mona Awad’s Art of the Fairy Tale
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Dan Bernardi
  • How Climate Warming Could Disrupt a Deep-Rooted Relationship
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Dan Bernardi
  • Be Proactive: How to Keep Yourself Safe on Campus
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023, By Christine Weber
  • Academic Strategic Plan Launch Symposium Set for Sept. 26
    Monday, September 25, 2023, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In Media, Law & Policy

Maxwell Sociologists Receive $1.8M From the NIA to Study Midlife Health and Mortality

A team of Maxwell School faculty led by Jennifer Karas Montez and Shannon Monnat have been awarded a $1.8 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to support their research on geographic disparities in midlife mortality. Montez, University…

Languages Unlock Opportunities for English for Lawyers Alumna

Languages act as a guide for communicating our goals and dreams. It’s how we make sense of the world and connect with the communities around us. Become fluent in a variety of languages, and it’s like collecting keys that unlock…

Law Student Tyriese Robinson Named Inaugural Recipient of the NDNY FCBA Hon. Norman A. Mordue ’66, L’71 Law Scholarship

The first recipient of a scholarship established in honor of the Hon. Norman A. Mordue ’66, L’71 is second-year law student Tyriese Robinson. The Northern District of New York (NDNY) Federal Court Bar Association (FCBA) Hon. Norman A. Mordue ’66,…

Robertson Fellows Aspire to Serve as Foreign Service Officers

Interested in careers in the foreign service, Zoe Prin and Forrest Gatrell took advantage of internships and other opportunities as undergraduates that exposed them to the inner workings of government, policymaking and service from differing vantage points. While Gatrell obtained…

Craig M. Boise to Conclude Tenure as College of Law Dean at End of Academic Year

When Craig M. Boise stepped into his role as dean of the College of Law in the spring of 2016, he described his vision to create “a sustainable law school that leverages the knowledge, skill and imagination of its faculty…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.