Voting with cognitive impairment

Posted by judimahoney @judimahoney, May 7 8:53am

Greetings:
My husband and I just voted, and before, during and after he voted I had a sense of unease, like, should I allow this given that he's got dementia?
I typed in dementia and voting on the internet, and it's perfectly legal, it just doesn't seem right.
My husband was blasting through his ballot (we vote by mail), and I kept taking his pen away to get him to slow down so we could discuss the candidates and issues on the ballot, and read the voter's guide before marking anything. I really wanted him to make informed decisions, but this is probably unrealistic on my part.
He doesn't seem to have the capacity to truly read and consider each candidate's background and experience.
Voting just felt wrong, but apparently it's legal to have him vote. 🤔🫤

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Caregivers: Dementia Support Group.

wctdoc1943 | @wctdoc1943 | 6 days ago

At a time when I feel voting is more important than ever, and every vote matters, I would have no problem “guiding” my spouse to vote, based on our shared and strong convictions on policy and issues. If our roles were reversed, this is what I would want. If your spouse’s convictions are unknown, and she/he is unable to understand the issues, maybe there is a moral dilemma.

judimahoney | @judimahoney | 6 days ago

In reply to @wctdoc1943 "At a time when I feel voting is more important than ever, and every vote matters,..." + (show)

@wctdoc1943
I agree with you, good point.
Thanks. 🌻
Judi

ocdogmom | @ocdogmom | 6 days ago

We just filled out our ballots. At this point in his dementia he is not capable of reading the ballot or grasping its content. So I decided that I would fill out his ballot the same as mine because over the 45 years that we have been married, we have always voted the same. I am glad to hear that it is legal because I did wonder if it was or not. Voting is so important. I agree with @wtcdoc1943

thereaklenb | @thereaklenb | 1 day ago

We vote by mail as well and for a while we were able to walk thru the ballot as well but eventually my wife was filling in the wrong choice occasionally. The last ballot she tried to sign her name and it was illegible so it was rejected. One more thing lost to the disease.