Operation Healthy Vote: Empowering Healthcare Workers Through Voting

As we observe National Voter Registration Month in Mississippi in September, it is crucial to reflect on the power of voting as an essential tool for advocacy, particularly for healthcare workers. Healthcare professionals are at the forefront of caring for their communities and have a unique perspective on the policies and decisions that affect the community's health. As such, voting is more than a civic duty - it is a vital act that influences the structural determinants of health.

Voting as a Social Determinant of Health

Social determinants of health (SDOH) are non-medical factors that influence health outcomes, including economic stability, education, social and community context, healthcare access, and the built environment. Voting intersects with several of these determinants, serving as a critical lever to address health inequities and disparities. When healthcare workers vote, they are not only exercising their rights but also advocating for policies that affect health and well-being. Voting impacts healthcare access, public health funding, workforce regulations, and policies addressing social needs such as housing, nutrition, and education.

Why Healthcare Workers Should Vote

Healthcare workers understand better than most the profound impact of policy decisions on patient outcomes and community health. Every day, they witness the effects of a lack of access to care, restrictive health policies, and social inequities that compromise the health of their patients. By voting, healthcare professionals ensure their voices are part of the decision-making process, pushing for policies prioritizing patient safety, equitable care, and adequate healthcare funding.

Barriers to Voting in the Healthcare Community

While the importance of voting is clear, healthcare workers often face unique barriers that prevent them from participating in elections. Long, unpredictable shifts and traveling outside of residential voting districts for those shifts can make voting challenging. Recognizing these barriers is crucial for healthcare organizations and associations committed to fostering civic engagement.

To address these challenges, hospitals can play an active role in promoting voter registration and participation among their employees. This includes providing flexible scheduling on election days, hosting voter registration drives, offering information on early voting and mail-in ballots, and educating staff on the importance of voting. The Mississippi Hospital Association created Operation Healthy Vote, a non-partisan awareness campaign, to help.

A Call to Action

National Voter Registration Month serves as a timely reminder of the critical role that healthcare workers play in advocating for their patients and communities, both inside and outside the hospital walls. Voting is a powerful tool for shaping health policy and addressing social drivers of health.

This month, commit to registering to vote and encouraging your colleagues, patients, and communities to do the same. You can take the Operation Healthy Vote pledge here. We have collected some voter tools here and encourage you to be a part of the invasion and help us spread the word on social media about Operation Healthy Vote.

Together, we can make a difference.

This year’s general elections in Mississippi on Tuesday, Nov. 5 include the presidential election, four of five congressional seats, four state supreme court seats, along with various local races. To be eligible to vote, registration must be completed by Oct. 7. The easiest way to register to vote or change your voting address is by printing out this form, filling it out, and mailing it to your local circuit clerk’s office. Mail-in registration forms are available in public libraries, driver’s license exam stations, circuit clerk’s offices, municipal clerk’s offices, and public schools across the state. For those who prefer to register in person, circuit clerk and municipal clerk’s offices offer a way to do that.