Media Tip Sheets

Voting Rights for Elderly and Long-Term Care Residents

Tuesday, October 22, 2024, By Ellen Mbuqe
Voting Rights for Elderly and Long-Term Care Residents
Syracuse University Professor Nina Kohn Nina Kohn is the David M. Levy Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law with expertise in the legal rights of older people. For the 2024 election, She can discuss the voting rights or lack thereof for elderly people and people living in long-term care facilities.
She is the co-author of the paper “Defending Voting Rights in Long-Term Care Institutions” (Boston University Law Review).
In it, the authors write:
  • “An estimated 2.2 million Americans live in long-term care facilities in the United States. Many of these Americans—perhaps the majority—would vote if voting were accessible to them. Unfortunately, as we show, long-term care residents face systemic disenfranchisement. Specifically, based on our systematic review of nursing home investigation reports, we present disturbing new empirical evidence that demonstrates how burdensome election procedures, profound isolation, and widespread failure by facilities to provide required assistance prevent long-term care residents from voting. Noting that entities traditionally enforcing voting rights have largely ignored these problems, we call for a new wave of voting rights litigation aimed at dismantling barriers to long-term care voter participation and provide a roadmap for how existing law could be employed in such litigation. Finally, continued disenfranchisement of long-term care residents has profound implications not only for older adults and people with disabilities but also for democratic legitimacy.”
Kohn is also the Solomon Center Distinguished Scholar in Elder Law with the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School. Professor Kohn’s scholarly research focuses on elder law, advance planning and medical consent, and the civil rights of older adults and persons with cognitive capacity challenges.
She is available to speak to reporters about voting rights for the elderly and those living in long-term care facilities. Please reach out to media relations executive director Ellen James Mbuqe at ejmbuqe@syr.edu.