A voting event at a dementia care home in Gävle is raising questions about both the voter’s autonomy and how common such practices are. The Dementia Association reacts after a resident with dementia reportedly “received help” to get to the polling station without a relative at their side. Later, when a relative asked the man about voting, she says he did not understand anything at all.
The election committee maintains that there is no requirement for a relative to be present and states that the case in question has been checked.
The issue came to Elisabet Bergström’s attention—she’s on the board of the Gävle Dementia Association—when she visited Fleminggatan care and nursing home to help her own husband vote. She witnessed another resident with dementia being guided to and from the polling station by a care home manager.
When Bergström asked how the staff knew what the man wanted to vote for, she claims she was told he had pointed to a ballot paper himself. This made her react strongly.
– I am at the care home four days a week and that man has lived there for several years. I know how he is. When I asked him about the voting, he didn’t understand anything, Elisabet Bergström told GD.
She also suspects the man was not the only resident who was helped to vote in this way.
Concern about undue influence
Bergström believes the situation raises two principal questions. One is whether someone with significant cognitive difficulties can really express their will in a voting situation without support from someone who knows them well.
– They don’t even know what day it is. But I’ve been married to my husband for 40 years. If you’ve been together that long, I’d like to think you have a sense of how the person votes, she says to GD.
The second question concerns the risk that the person assisting the voter could also influence their choice. She believes there is a risk that staff may have tried to fish for votes.
Fleminggatan care and nursing home has six units and a total of 56 residents. Ahead of the election, the staff informed the residents about the opportunity to vote and asked who wished to do so.
According to Emma Rondina Bisi, head of care and welfare in Gävle municipality, staff or a manager accompanies residents who need physical assistance to get to the polling station.
Election officials must ensure integrity
The ultimate responsibility for ensuring elections are properly conducted lies with the election committee, while the election office manages practical implementation. Roger Persson (Green Party), chair of the Gävle election committee, states there is no special routine for dementia care home voters assisted by care staff.
However, at mobile voting events at the municipality’s care homes, election officers must be present throughout the process.
The Dementia Association has submitted a complaint to the election committee. According to Persson, the municipality has reviewed the incident with both the mobile election officers and the responsible managers at the care home.
– We have checked with both mobile election officers and the responsible managers for the care home in question and both independently confirmed that everything was conducted correctly. The complaint instead seems to be a misunderstanding that relatives must be present when a person votes at a dementia care home, Roger Persson (Green Party) told GD.
The election committee states that all incident reports are followed up, including the complaint from the Dementia Association in Gävle.
Voting without ID
At the end of August, Samnytt tested how it works to vote without identification. They did this by visiting a polling station and having their identity confirmed by another person, without having to show anything themselves.
READ ALSO: Samnytt tests: How easy it is to vote without ID
In practice, this means that the person standing before the election officer could be someone other than the person whose name is on the voting roll. See our report below.