Vot-ER has come under scrutiny for registering people in doctor’s agencies
University of Pennsylvania medical students may enroll voters as part of a “non-partisan”” political relationship” program – in partnership with a party run by a Kamala Harris adviser.
The School of Nursing will use the Vot-ER program, according to a media release.
The team aims to enroll voters through health services, including in doctor’s offices, a process which has drawn attention from a previous Department of Justice standard.
The creator of the Vot-ER program, Dr. Alister Martin, was a White House Fellow in the Office of Kamala Harris. According to Massachusetts General Hospital, he ( pictured ) worked “directly with Vice President Kamala Harris”. He also has donated$ 255 to Harris ‘ presidential campaign, according to Federal Election Commission information.
This year, Dr. Martin did not respond to two letters from The College Fix about the non-partisan organization’s morality and voter registration in the dentist’s office.
” Vot-ER hopes to achieve even more of the voters who are least likely to be heard by political systems – younger voters, low-income citizens, and citizens of shade”, according to a Democracy Works event review.
The Fix reached out to Dr. Elizabeth Cohn, an assistant to Vot-ER and the evil chairman of health equity analysis at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, as well as Dr. Judith Salerno, another mentor. In the past two days, The Fix received two emailed calls or messages from their offices asking about safeguards in place to ensure the engagement remained impartial and fears about Dr. Martin’s relationships to Kamala Harris.
Additionally, The Fix reached away to other Vot-ER assistant Jonathan Kusner, a Duke Department of Medicine fellow for cardiovascular disease. Two contacted requests for help or a phone left to the Duke Department of Medicine Fellowship office did not come back to The Fix.
In the past few weeks, Monique Howard, the medical school’s freshman chairman of community engagement, has been unable to respond to similar inquiries sent via email and voicemail warning.
” Our group’s mission is to incorporate civic engagement into healthcare”, Vot-ER organizer Brett Scruton told The Daily Pennsylvanian. He has previously worked for the Alaska Democrat Party, two Democratic Party individuals, and Common Cause, a liberal advocacy group, according to his Linked In.
MORE: University under fireplace after Harris strategy accesses information to words 70, 000 students
A senior legitimate brother at the Heritage Foundation called it “inappropriate” for health services to try to enroll voters in “vulnerable” jobs.
” It is particularly inappropriate for hospitals, clinics, and others to engage in this kind of behavior”. Von Spakovsky spoke with The Fix over the phone. The fact that patients have a very special relationship with their doctors, and they are frequently very vulnerable, only makes this situation worse.
He previously served as an attorney for the Department of Justice and was a member of President Trump’s 2017 Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.
Von Spakovsky said,” The person who is supposed to be helping them and treating them is telling them, Oh, by the way, you need to register to vote.”
In the phone interview, he said,” That gives them the opportunity to take advantage of their patients and say, You know what, you should vote a certain way if you want to continue, for example, to receive free clinic services from us because one side is going to be more favorable than the other,” he said.
He also said many groups call themselves “nonpartisan” but actually push a specific agenda, such as the League of Women voters. According to what I’ve seen and that’s true of many other groups, he said, adding that the League of Women Voters has tried to stop efforts to improve election integrity.
The legal representative for the Heritage Foundation argued that the nursing students should receive county-based training in basic voter registration to ensure they do not register as ineligible voters.
He also said state officials should keep a” close eye” to ensure the effort does n’t include” trying to persuade]voters ] to vote a particular way”.
Some federal work study positions also involve conducting voter outreach for liberal-leaning organizations. Students were asked to participate in a work-study position at Pacific University to help them “take part in personal and collective efforts to make our own communities more sustainable, equitable, and just.”
Rep. Burgess Owens told , The Fix those terms are” code words for a specific political agenda”.
MORE: Penn State students must commit to DEI for taxpayer-subsidized voter job
IMAGE: The White House
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.