Contents
Initiate a conversation about voter registration
What does it look like to invite your patients to engage with the tools? Well, the answer is it can look like whatever works best for you and it fits into the structure of your service/visit with your patient. That said, we have collaborated with voting experts and healthcare professionals to provide scripts that are nonpartisan, they are research-backed, and they are appropriate for most clinical settings. These scripts are available on our website but I’ll give you a quick rundown here: so one way to introduce these tools to patients is during the social history portion of their visit. While asking other questions such as do you smoke do you drink are you safe at home you could add also, “Are you registered to vote?” You can also add this question at the end of the social history check-in and that will sound something like this:
“We’re all done with this part of your history but I now want to transition to something that’s really important to your health and well-being—and that’s voting. Are you registered to vote?””
Another way to introduce these tools to patients is at the end of a patient’s visit. for example, this might sound like:
“Before I leave i’d like to check if you are eligible to vote and registered to vote at your current address. Your vote is a powerful tool to address and improve issues you care about like your health. Local elections are often decided by a small number of voters and the impact on your community is immediate. Through your vote you have a say on issues like the prices of medication and the cost of health insurance that affect your friends and family.”
Talk to patients about the power of their vote
What does it look like to invite your patients to engage with the tools? Well, the answer is it can look like whatever works best for you and it fits into the structure of your service/visit with your patient. That said, we have collaborated with voting experts and healthcare professionals to provide scripts that are nonpartisan, they are research-backed, and they are appropriate for most clinical settings. These scripts are available on our website but I’ll give you a quick rundown here: so one way to introduce these tools to patients is during the social history portion of their visit. While asking other questions such as do you smoke do you drink are you safe at home you could add also, “Are you registered to vote?” You can also add this question at the end of the social history check-in and that will sound something like this:
“We’re all done with this part of your history but I now want to transition to something that’s really important to your health and well-being—and that’s voting. Are you registered to vote?””
Another way to introduce these tools to patients is at the end of a patient’s visit. for example, this might sound like:
“Before I leave i’d like to check if you are eligible to vote and registered to vote at your current address. Your vote is a powerful tool to address and improve issues you care about like your health. Local elections are often decided by a small number of voters and the impact on your community is immediate. Through your vote you have a say on issues like the prices of medication and the cost of health insurance that affect your friends and family.”
Talking to Young Patients and Parents
One of the most incredible groups of voters that Vot-ER has the opportunity to partner with are young voters and part of the reason we’re so lucky to be able to do so much of that work is that the biggest group of health professionals in Vot-ER are pediatricians. And there are two audiences that pediatricians reach, they reach young voters and then they reach their parents. On this page we’ll talk a little bit about what it’s like to talk with a young voter. And at age 18 these voters are at a particular moment where their bodies are changing, their agency is changing and this is a moment to begin a habit that can become a lifelong habit as a part of that transition into adulthood.
Again starting the same, by wanting to check if you’re eligible to vote and registered at your current address. As a young person you have more power than you might think. Building on the collective in 2020, voters like you made history and set voting records and your vote allows you to create the change that you want to see in your community. Diffusing the sense of cynicism that can often come from the experiences that people have had in their lived lives and then once again talking about how simple and easy it is to engage them and using technology, so that it is something suitable for a young voter to engage on.
And then there is the parent and um the parent is another really powerful person in this. We actually know that the parents of newborns vote at lower rates than other other folks because it is harder to access the vote when you are supporting a newborn and this is another group that on audience pediatricians who are part of Vot-ER can speak with. Using the same opening as a parent,
“I bet you are looking forward to the future of your child’s education and health care the politicians who make the laws are going to do so based on the preferences of the people who vote for them including on these issues and therefore your vote allows you to help create the changes you want to see for your children”.
Tapping into that again community as the key unit that people are trying to make change for and then driving on the resources in power that are created there.
Roleplay: Pre-Registering Young Patients
Dr – So Victoria, I see you’re almost 18.
V – Yes
Dr – And I see you have your phone with you.
V – I do
Dr – that’s awesome! What do you think about me registering you to vote today?
V – I would love to
Dr- You’re almost 18 right?
V – Yes, yes
Dr – so look here, I have a badge here, it’s got a qr code. So here you can try if you just point your camera to here and it’ll take you to a psychological vote and it literally takes about three minutes and you will be pre-registered to vote.
V – ooh nice! yeah, I would love to be registered.
Dr – Yeah I’m really encouraging my older teenage patients to register to vote because you know you want to vote for your family, for your community, for the things that you believe in, and for the future that you want. So I think it’s really really important for right younger voters to show up. So if you just scroll through the steps you will get to a point where you need your social security number. So do you know it? or that’s where you might need…
V – I do know it
Dr – Okay that’s awesome. And then at some point you’ll get to to options where it says register or pre-register for 16 and 17 year old’s okay and that’s where you’ll go