Things that make you go "hm."

Dementia and the Voter
Research Raises Ethical, Constitutional Questions
By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 14, 2004; Page A01

Florida neurologist Marc Swerdloff was taken aback when one of his patients with advanced dementia voted in the 2000 presidential election. The man thought it was 1942 and Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. The patient's wife revealed that she had escorted her husband into the booth.

"I said 'Did he pick?' and she said 'No, I picked for him,' " Swerdloff said. "I felt bad. She essentially voted twice" in the Florida election, which gave George W. Bush a 537-vote victory and the White House.

As swing states with large elderly populations such as Florida gear up for another presidential election, a sleeper issue has been gaining attention on medical, legal and political radar screens: Many people with advanced dementia appear to be voting in elections -- including through absentee ballot.

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Posted by Prometheus 6 on September 14, 2004 - 5:35pm :: Politics
 
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Prometheus 6 links to a WaPo article that raises the possibility that people with dementia are being manipulated into voting for their spouses' preferred candidates. Florida neurologist Marc Swerdloff was taken aback when one of his patients with advanced dementia...

Posted by  Foreign Dispatches (not verified) on September 15, 2004 - 12:13pm.

Advocates such as Mathis say that disqualifying groups of voters usually leads to discrimination. Paupers, slaves and women were once ruled incompetent to vote -- and recent scrutiny of people with dementia has led to allegations of abuse.

Not to mention blacks who were no longer slaves.

I have to admit that as I read the introduction to this story, the first thing that popped into my mind is that we don't have a very good track record in this country when it comes to testing voter competence but instead have all too often abused it.

Posted by  Al-Muhajabah on September 15, 2004 - 9:24pm.