Nursing-Home Voting Criticized -- Procedure Allowing Residents Chance to Cast Ballot

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Sandy Smegelsky was outraged. Eighteen Memphis-area institutions for the elderly didn't reply when the Shelby County Election Commission asked if residents wanted to vote in the March school- merger referendum.

"I just can't believe that they're that nonresponsive to the Election Commission. That is scary," said Smegelsky, who advocates for the rights of residents in the region's long-term care facilities as district ombudsman for Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association.

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Nursing-Home Voting Criticized -- Procedure Allowing Residents Chance to Cast Ballot

She said the voting mixup reminds her of darker days in nursing homes.

"They used to be characterized as warehouses," she said. "People went there as a holding tank to die."

People in nursing homes should be able to exercise rights , she said.

If facilities don't respond to the Election Commission in future votes, the commission will bring the matter to the state authorities that license the homes, Election Administrator Richard Holden said.

T...

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