Do persons with dementia vote?

ABSTRACT

To examine whether patients with dementia voted in the 2000 US Presidential Election, the authors surveyed 75 caregivers of patients with dementia. A substantial portion of patients with mild to moderate dementia voted on their own at a voting booth. Patients cared for by spouses were more likely to vote than patients cared for by adult children. Further research is needed to understand how persons with dementia and their caregivers decide what activities the person can and cannot continue and how well these decisions correspond to measures of competency.