Integrating Voter Registration into the History and Physical Exam: A Pilot in the Sports Medicine Arena

Background: Studies demonstrate states with higher voter turnout have better access to healthcare. Healthcare based voter registration has become widely accepted by healthcare institutions across the United States as an advocacy initiative. We aimed to evaluate patient and family attitudes about this process.

Methods: A cross sectional survey was distributed to parents of patients enrolled into the study by providers within pediatric orthopedic and sports medicine clinics. As part of the social history, providers asked participants if they registered to vote. If not registered, individuals were asked if they wanted to register using ‘VotER’, a non-partisan program that facilitates voter registration in healthcare settings. Participants completed an anonymous survey which included demographic data and questions about voter registration in the healthcare setting. Participants ranked trust and comfort with the provider from 1 to 5 (most) and how they thought voting impacted their health. Differences between survey response groups were assessed using descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact, Chi-squared, and Kruskall-Wallis tests.

Results: Sixty-nine individuals completed the survey(72% female, 6% did not report gender ). Figure 1 shows participants’ racial distribution. Fifty-eight percent had employer-based insurance, while the rest had Medicaid(28%), private insurance(12%) or were uninsured(4%).

Sixty-seven percent reported providers should help with voter registration. There were no statistically significant demographic differences between those who did and did not believe healthcare providers should register patients.

When ranking comfort with the provider after discussing voter registration, 64% reported being very comfortable, 9% felt no difference, and 11% felt very uncomfortable. When asked to rank level of trust with the provider, 63% reported a high level of trust.

After discussing voter registration within healthcare settings, most individuals felt no different when thinking about their own health or child’s health (55%, 61%, respectively). Some reported thinking more about their own and child’s health (41%, 35%, respectively). Of those who thought voting impacted their own health, 72.54%(37/51) believed that doctors should ask patients to vote.

There were statistically significant differences in gender distribution with respect to being more likely to think about their own health and their child’s health (p=0.032 and p=0.41 respectively), with a higher proportion of females in each “more likely” group (78.57% vs. 71.05% and 75% vs. 73.8% respectively).

Conclusion: Most individuals believed that healthcare providers should register patients to vote in the clinical setting. Our data suggests asking about voter registration in a healthcare setting does not negatively impact comfort or trust with the healthcare provider in the pediatric setting. Our data also suggests asking individuals if they are registered to vote may not prompt them to think more about the relationship between voting and health. Further discussion from the provider may be required to help individuals understand the relationship between voting and health.