Ballot Harvesting Concerns in Nursing Homes Spur New Push to Protect Vulnerable Seniors
16th September 2026
As the Trump administration seeks to crack down on potential voter fraud in nursing homes, an election watchdog group is providing additional information to long-term care facilities, citing several past criminal cases involving political operatives and staff who took advantage of vulnerable elderly residents.
A Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services memo from late July cited two major cases in recent years, one out of Texas and another out of Wisconsin, involving elderly people being exploited in long-term care facilities for collecting votes.
The memo says facilities have a “responsibility to preserve residents’ rights to vote and to promote participation in the democratic process.” But says, “This activity should not violate federal or state voting laws.” And that staff “cannot engage in inappropriate coercion or other violations of residents’ rights.”