Originally Presented on Thursday, August 27, 2020

The medically underserved are among the least likely to vote or respond to the Census. With both national election and the decennial census taking place in 2020, clinicians have a unique opportunity to promote civic participation by their patients. This is especially true in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies show that a prime motivator for nonvoters is education and encouragement by trusted contacts and among the most trusted are health care providers. This webinar will outline ways that clinicians and their organizations can be catalysts for a dramatic increase in voter participation through legal, permissible, nonpartisan civic engagement activities: voter education, get-out-the-vote (GOTV), and census participation.

This session on voting and census participation in underserved patients was hosted on Tuesday, August 27, 2020, and was the seventh webinar in ACU’s Policy & Practice Series.

Presenter:

  • Marc Wetherhorn, MBA, Principal, Marc Wetherhorn Consulting

View the Archived Webinar

Further Resources for Promoting Voting and Census Participation Among the Underserved

Find more patient civic engagement and voter registration resources—including the Healthy Democracy Kit—in our archived webinar with VotER, one of the ACU’s key civic engagement partners. Other organizations such as the League of Women Voters and Vote 411 can further assist your efforts. Have questions or need assistance? Please contact Amanda Pears Kelly.

With these resources, you can get started by asking your patients and community if they are registered to vote and have a plan to vote safely. And remember: sometimes simply “asking the question” of whether they are or would like to register to vote—and if they plan to do so—can provide an entry point to their civic engagement. You can also go further by joining us as an advocate for health equity!

Remember: all civic engagement activities done at/by a 501c3 non-profit, as well as by its staff and representatives, must be entirely non-partisan and cannot advise patients on or endorse electoral candidates.