(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Republicans are worried about illegal immigrants voting, but at least migrants presumably know where they are. The same can’t be said for another dubious voting block sought after by the Democrats: insane people.
The non-profit group “Vot-ER” has been hitting up the hospitals to scrape every voter possible for the 2024 election—including psych patients.
In a recent press release, the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute bragged about its partnership with Vot-ER, which was founded by Alister Martin, a former adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris.
“Depression and mental illness decrease the probability of voting, especially as it relates to a marginalized population. However, voting is an important part of the recovery process. It has been found to increase life satisfaction, decrease risky behaviors and increase mental wellbeing,” Dr. Julie Graziane, an inpatient psychiatrist at Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, said in a recent press release.
Graziane’s quote puts a positive spin on the program. But an analysis from the conservative-leaning Free Beacon is blunt: “The hospital asks psychiatric inpatients, regardless of diagnosis, if they would be interested in ‘voter registration tools.'”
As noted by the Free Beacon, Vot-ER claims to be nonpartisan. But it’s staffed by progressive operatives, funded by progressive foundations, and its parent group, “A Healthier Democracy,” has referred to DEI as “the bedrock of fair healthcare.”
NEW: Scores of doctors are now registering their patients to vote—including suicidal and psychotic patients at a PA mental hospital.
Helping them is Vot-ER, a nonprofit founded by a Kamala Harris staffer that is targeting traditional Dem voting blocs.🧵https://t.co/AiLMm03nCe
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) August 6, 2024
Free Beacon reported that Vot-ER even has scripts doctors can use to encourage “undocumented patients” to register their “friends and family members who are citizens” to vote.
“Critics say that Vot-ER, which hosts trainings on ‘medical racism’ and partners with the Climate Psychiatry Alliance, is turning doctors into political activists and patients into political capital,” the Free Beacon reported.
Along with concerns aobut whether Vot-ER’s efforts are healthy democracy, there are also questions about whether patients could be harmed.
“The transformation has raised ethical questions about the power dynamic between patient and provider, the capacity of institutionalized people to give consent, and the potential for partisan pushiness in the exam room, where political chit-chat was long seen as off-limits,” the Free Beacon noted.
Vot-ER has reportedly decline to respond to requests for comment.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
