Bedside Voting Services Offered for Patients Hospitalized Near Election Day

The hospital is not likely a place patients want to be, especially during an important election. At Saint Joseph Mercy Health System and Mercy Health, we want to do everything possible to make our patients’ stays healing and calm.

For registered voters who unexpectedly find themselves in the hospital near Election Day, there may still be an opportunity to cast a vote, even if they have not applied for an absentee ballot. There is a provision in Michigan law for an EMERGENCY absentee ballot, allowing them the opportunity to make an absentee ballot request if they cannot attend the polls due to:

• Personal injury or illness
• A family death or illness that requires you to leave your community for the entire time the polls are open on Election Day (such as a hospitalization)

The emergency must have occurred after 5 p.m. the Friday prior to the election (10/30).

To request an emergency absentee ballot, patients will need to have someone they trust deliver their absentee ballot application to their City or Township clerk’s office before 4 p.m. on Election Day. Completed ballots must be returned to the clerk’s office by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

To learn more, visit the Michigan Secretary of State site here.