Dementia victims take voting seriously

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dementia and the Voter
Research Raises Ethical, Constitutional Questions

By Shankar Vedantam
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 14, 2004; Page A01

Florida neurologist Marc Swerdloff was taken aback when one of his patients
with advanced dementia voted in the 2000 presidential election. The man
thought it was 1942 and Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. The patient's
wife revealed that she had escorted her husband into the booth.

"I said 'Did he pick?' and she said 'No, I picked for him,' " Swerdloff
said. "I felt bad. She essentially voted twice" in the Florida election,
which gave George W. Bush a 537-vote victory and the White House.

As swing states with large elderly populations such as Florida gear up for
another presidential election, a sleeper issue has been gaining attention
on medical, legal and political radar screens: Many people with advanced
dementia appear to be voting in elections -- including through absentee
ballot. Although there are no national statistics, two studies in
Pennsylvania and Rhode Island found that patients at dementia clinics
TURNED OUT IN HIGHER NUMBERS than the general population. [emphasis added]

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18916-2004Sep13.html