I do not think people who no longer have any logical though process should be able to vote. Many states don't let felons vote. Why not have rules based on mental competence with an official diagnosis.

My aunt and uncle can barely hold a rational conversation, yet they can vote. That's just wrong.

My mother has been a lifelong Democrat...she’s has progressively worsening dementia for over 6 years now. She doesn’t even recognize her own brother & sister.

My sibling who is her DPO changed her affiliation to Republican ( his choice) for presidency.

He should not be allowed to vote twice in this election. He thinks as her DPOA he has the right to do this.

Hi MerryClingen, I don't know what it's like in your state, but absentee ballots are tightly controlled in my state. People need to provide current ID numbers such as a driver's license or state ID with the birth date and expiration date clearly visible, as well as other information and anyone who continues to order ballots by mail (renewed yearly) is taking quite a chance. I imagine that it happens, but I doubt that it's common.

I do think it's common for couples to vote the same and for the healthy person to help the person who is having trouble by doing everything but signing the ballot. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Thanks for adding your story.
Carol

My mother had dementia the last 10 years of her life. My stepfather started voting for her by mail, but since the two of them agreed on politics, I didn't complain. However, I have suspected he continued to vote for her even after she passed away. There have to be laws regarding this.

grumpyotter, my Dad is saying the same thing about Sec of State Clinton.... but if my Mom was still around he would keep quiet as my Mom never liked to see women working outside of the home, she never liked women doctor's, or women governors, or women newscasters... and heaven forbid if she saw a woman sports announcer. Mom stock comment was "what does she know about sports [medicine, politics, world news, etc]?".... "she should be home having babies".... [sigh].

My Dad has some short term memory issues, but he was determined to vote in the recent State primaries and he wanted to "vote against" a certain candidate he did not like because of what that candidate had been saying. He was beaming from ear to ear after voting. So now he is ready to vote in November :)

Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in northern Virginia, an elder who finds it hard to walk doesn't need to get out of the car to vote, the election personnel will come out to the car. But Dad wanted to go inside the polling center.

This article actually made me laugh. My Mom has been a diehard Republican FOREVER, but this election cycle, she began saying nice things about Hillary Clinton. THAT never ever happened before. lol

My mother doesn't even know the candidates and cannot vote on her own. It isn't right for a home health aide to take her to a voting place and tell her who to vote for just because the home health aide wants a candidate to win. They don't check closely enough. Only a person with dementia should be allowed to vote if they have relinquished to a Power of Attorney and that person is present. Even then, I think only informed voters should vote. If my mother is being told who to vote for and I know that in her entire life she would never have voted for that person or chose that political party, this is wrong. People are slipping by filling out voter registration forms online and there isn't a list of people who are under a Power of Attorney for reasons of severe Alzheimer's or dementia. In my opinion, this is taking advantage of someone for your own political agenda.

I agree. If your parents have no idea of what is going on, then it's time to stop voting. My mom made choices for my dad one year - they'd always voted the same. It was different than my choice - so I felt it was okay. But that had more to do with the fact that Dad couldn't physically sign an absentee ballot. In your case, your mom hasn't got a clue about what is happening so I think it's wrong for your sister to vote for her. However, I'm not sure that you can stop her. Maybe someone else can talk sense into her.
Good luck,
Carol

My sister is the POA because my mom has Alzheimers and has been dx as incompetent by two doctors, My sister is right winged and loves Donald Trump and I can see her helping my mom for what she *thinks* is the best vote for my mom . That would be my sister's helping her to vote for Donald Trump. My mother doesn't know the date and sleeps most of the time She doesn't care what it going on in the world. And I doubt she would like Donald Trump but she could be talked into it. I'm thinking this is wrong for her to vote and be persuaded by my sister's choices. Anything I can do in the State of California?

just googled this while looking into current uk election I do think it is obvious carol hillman commenting below should be reported for voter fraud see her comments below seriously helping someone to vote for a particular political party when they have no idea what the political parties current policies are let alone who it is they are voting for (shame on you)
RE: I hope that they exercise ethical standards (that is, only vote if the individual is capable of making such a decision).
Alternatively, ir is completely ethical if the helper knows what the person he is helping would want or for whom that person would want to vote. My mother is in late-stage Alzheimer's Disease but she has never ever not voted in an election. If I asked her, "Are you for John McCain or Barack Obama?" she would be clueless. However, if I ask her if she is voting for the Democrats or the Republicans, she has a ready answer!!! So I do feel that helping my mother vote is completely ethical!

I wish the absentee ballots weren't so complicated. My parents voted in the past Presidential election via absentee ballots for the first time. OMG even I got confused by the paperwork but eventually we figured it all out.

My parents and I are on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, so my vote and my sig other's vote would cancel out their vote :)

Only thing, I had to drive the ballots to the Post Office to be mailed as my parents don't trust the mailman.... gee, I wonder who works at the Post Office :P

After reading these reader comments I can see why the voter system is in need of an overhaul. Who are these people kidding? I have worked in long term care for 30+ years and I have seen family members telling their loved ones who to vote for as well as the staff and as Lucylou said, Voting is not for self esteem. Tell your self whatever you want to make it "right."

In Washington State all voting is mail-in. Our ballots have a line for signature, and under that are spaces for two witnesses to sign if the voter is unable to make his/her signature.

Dear Readers...FYI,

I just did some research on Florida voter fraud, including the "dot gov" website and they indicate that their investigations into voter fraud include (but aren't limited to) "absentee ballots", not ELDERLY ABSENTEE VOTING.

Interesting article, in Miami much of the voting fraud is tied to elderly absentee voting fraud. All for people to vote, just want to prevent the fraud.

There are people who cannot sign their name who vote all the time: the blind, folks with different forms of palsy, some Parkinson's disease people. There must be a way around the signature to obtain the absentee ballot.

My husband is dementia, and is getting very difficult for him to see and write. His vision has been distorted and writing been illegible when he was on Risperidone, and never been recovered from the side effects from that medicine. Fortunately, his moral values and political preference have never been affected, and what he says in very simple words make me more sense than what some politicians and media people say. Lat election, he and I took absentee's votes. I do not discuss with him about politicians, but give him the information as accurately as possible so he can vote for right candidates. I think all eligible people, whether they are demented or not, have a right to vote as far as they understand what's going. I am not sure if my husband is eligible to vote for the next election though. In our area, absentee's vote requires a hand written signature, and it takes for hours for him to write his name recently.

I think it's very reasonable for a family member or close associate to help, or even to guess and 'forge' the whole thing if the elder isn't mentally up to it. A child usually knows the elder's general opinions, and often the whole family is on the 'same side' politically. Even if not, there may be issues that are clearly in the interest of the elder, such as property tax. On all questions, competent or not, the elder is a citizen who will have to live with the results of the election, and whose interests should be represented.

(con't - sorry, my input keypad locked me out)

to which the answer came, you better not let Carol get her hands on it because she'll change your vote. Obnixious, offensive and outrageous. She thanks I am a bleeding heart liberal and apparently gives no credence to the concept of ethics.

Maybe as expert Carol says, there could come some kind of qualifying test down the pike, but I kind of doubt it for a long time. Traditionally, voter competency tests have been instituted to prevent people from voting, who should have had the right to vote, and to skew the results. Even the recent attempts to institute voter ID and some of our Southern States hit the Supreme Court like a lead balloon, which is to say didn't go over very well.

At this point in time, with the loss as they currently exist, I believe if a person is able to discuss and understand the issues, they have the citizen's right to vote. Until something changes, the close family caregivers are in the best position to determine that.

5 months after voting in her last presidential election, my mother was declared legally impaired and lost her voting right by a court order of the judge because he deemed it necessary for her to have a conservator in April 2011. Nothing made her more angry or unhappy than that. She had tests that were positive for potential bone marrow cancer. She was adamantly opposed to cancer treatment, therefore did not want the bone marrow biopsy the doctor was recommending to verify the condition. Guess what? Mom told the doctor she didn't want to do it and the doctor thought her lucid enough about it that even the court and conservator did not pursue it. Now, I have my doubts that a person who understands Medical ramifications could not have the wherewithal to understand citizenship issues.

Nope, Danie, people in prison don't lose the right to vote because of a lapse in judgement per se. It is because of something called "felony disenfranchisement" and harkens back to Roman and Greek times when an individual who has committed serious offenses was considered to have died civilly, giving up their rights as a citizen even their property rights.

This type of reasoning would not apply to an impaired person, weather from dementia, stroke or other physical or mental disability.

BTW, today, some states restore voting rights, under certain circumstances and with conditions, after incarceration and probation is over. A decision that is currently left at the state level.

Just because someone needs "help" to vote doesn't mean they should lose their voting right. Should a quadriplegic be disallowed because they can't hold a pencil, a stylus or press a button? Of course not. And what about an unethical person who helps a blind voter and marks a candidate or an issue and his or her own way rather than the voter's. Even if that person is a legitimate appointed person rather than a family member, who's to ever know since voting is considered private? There is ALWAYS a potential for voting fraud, especially now that absentee ballots are commonplace (when I was young, you had to have a reason for an absentee ballot, such as being disabled or out of the country). Even a controlling spouse in an abusive household good control to vote for both parties.

You cannot legislate morality and you cannot discover every clandestine inappropriate behavior.

I'm with carol & jeanne. I helped my mother vote in the 2010 election. It took us 4 hours to go over everything, so we did it in increments. She was a Republican and watched Fox News. Even in her impairment, she knew what she believed. I I am an independent, so I tried to explain both sides of every issue with her even though, ultimately, I knew what she wanted. In every case, I marked her ballot either with what she said she wanted or what I knew she wanted, and on virtually every topic with the exception of property tax issues, even knowing that her vote was going to cancel out mine. My older half-sister, NOT my mother's daughter, let's get some distance away from us. I use my cell phone to allow my mom to talk with her and not incurred long distance charges. My mother did not understand cell phones so I regularly had the phone on speaker. In a call before the election, she asked my mom if she was voting. My mom said of course she was in a way that implied, why in the world would she. To which the answer came

why do people in prison lose their right to vote? Is it b/c they have shown an obvious laps in judgement? If so, then the same standards should be placed in this situation.

My husband voted today. He was out of bed for a couple of hours each in the morning and evening, and was quite coherent both times. His body continues to get weaker but his mind seems clearer than it has been recently. He remarked that he hasn't missed a presidential election since he started voting 68 years ago. I'm glad he was up to doing this.

Very smart, Jeannegibbs. You know your husband and can judge what he can and cannot do as far as voting the way he would normally vote. I don't like to see people lose any more rights have to - they've already lost so much.
Thanks for all of your wonderful help on this site. You are one smart woman.
Carol

I got an absentee ballot for my husband, who has dementia and is now on hospice care. Up until the last two weeks he watches news and reads the paper -- he is probably better informed in some ways than I am. His cognition is highly variable. If he has a lucid period and is alert and wants to vote before the deadline, I will allow that. I won't give him the ballot when he is confused. So he may or may not vote in what will be his last election. I don't have any uneasiness over the ethics of this.

If only informed people should be voting, then I'd say more then half of our country's population would not be allowed to vote. I've seen time and time again, reporters asking political questions to people on the sidewalk and half of them don't even know who the Vice President is or what either candidate even wants to do. So, if a person with dementia, who voices their political opinion wants to vote, I say let them.

I live in such a state too. The Electoral College doesn't help those of us in sparsely populated states! However, I totally agree with you that, from what you said, he should get to exercise his right to vote.
Carol

I'll be taking my husband to vote today. He's 85, and at stage 5, but the one thing he knows is who's running and who he's for. He watches very little on TV except for the political shows, and knows very well that today is election day. We have skipped some of the local elections in the past, he really didn't know who was running, but this is important to him that he still has his opportunity to make his opinion felt. Of course, we live in a state where neither of our votes will count, but nevertheless, we will go vote today.

What a great discussion! It's an important issue and I feel that everyone who has commented has made a good point. There is a line - a time when it isn't probably the right thing to do, but each person is different. I hope it will be left to the families to decide, and I know there will be some who will abuse this privilege. However, the same could be said for other mentally disabled people. There is always risk that this privilege could be abused.

I know my parents voted totally ooposite my views, so I have no guilt feelings there!

Thanks for all of the discussion. It's something that will increasingly become an issue.
Carol

Voting is a right for anyone who is 18 or older and an American citizen. Only a judge can take this right away. If any of us were to stand by any polling place and see how much each voter "comprehends" the issues and the choices we would probably be shocked at how little each voter knows and how they decide their votes. But they have a right and so they have a vote.

I have worked with the elderly for the last 22 years and allowing each individual to make choices is an important part of respecting who they are. Do the choices have to make sense to you and I? Do all of our choices make sense? I think the law is clear that all americans over 18, with dementia or confusion or weird logic or skewed knowledge of the issues or .... fill in the blank - have a right to vote.

When I'm old and confused and maybe I can't recite the alphabet or I don't know all the issues but I do know that I want to vote I hope this right is still one that I will be able to exercise.

I agree that if an AD sufferer cannot comprehend the issues and the choices, they should not vote. I also think that if ANY person cannot or does not comprehend, they should not vote. You can see where I'm going here...

The only fair course would be to set a single, common, non-partisan standard for qualification to vote (similar to the idea of a drivers test for getting a license), and applying it to everyone.

I think that if new voters (mostly young) can be inspired into voting a specific way, they should be accountable for knowing what the issues are and what the choices are (in an inquiring way).

To try to set a standard solely for AD victims would probably be an unfortunate skewing of the electorate...but I'm sure this has already been strategized.