VotER

We are living in an unusual time in history where many different forces have come to a head simultaneously. The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the global inequities and has acted as a catalyst to propagate the international tidal wave response to the murder of George Floyd. Here in Minnesota, where it all began, we must do better and set an example by emerging from this crisis with concrete action that lead to meaningful improvement.

A review of our history reveals how systemic inequities have been perpetuated by denying people access to vote. Ensuring one is registered to vote can help ensure they have a voice in their community. Voting is also having a voice in one’s health in the following ways:

  1. Education, housing, food, and community play a huge role in the health of individuals and of the communities they live in. Voting is one of the main ways that citizens can impact these factors, and therefore improve their own health and the health of the community.
  2. Young adults who vote and are civically engaged have better mental health, achieve higher levels of education, and have higher incomes.
  3. Communities, especially those with a high poverty rate, that have high voter turnout have lower income inequality and higher wages. Conversely, socio-economic inequality and poor voter turnout is associated with poorer self-reported health.
  4. States who have a higher voter turnout have better healthcare.

To this very end, a group of highly motivated Health care professionals formed VotER; a non-profit, non-partisan organization that provides tools to Healthcare facilities and employees that make it easy for them to register their patients to vote. We are inviting anyone who provides care at MHealth Fairview who is interested in this idea to review the website at http://vot-er.org, and FAQs are: https://vot-er.org/faq/

The custom URL required to track registrants from M Health Fairview is included below, as well as the google link that has the materials that providers and staff can download to use:

Make sure to watch the required video on non-partisanship prior to beginning.

The University of MN medical school has already signed on to participate, and you will see on the VotER website that the students are doing very well, ranking 8th overall among more than 60 schools participating.

Rank (combined)InstitutionRegister to VoteVote from HomeTotal Patients Helped
1Penn Medicine34011991539
2UCSF79128207
3UNC45116161
4Creighton University School of Medicine 2080100
5Case Western Reserve University 4555100
6University of Illinois College of Medicine – Peoria364884
7NYITCOM 185775
8University of Minnesota 244872
9NEOMED 234972
10University of Wisconsin203959

Other health systems in the state of Minnesota are also participating, reaching a total of 491 patients to date.

This initiative is strictly voluntary, is non-partisan, and easy to do. If you have questions or want more information, or if you are interested in partnering and being a champion to help disseminate materials and information, please email hopecommission@fairview.org