BOISE, Idaho — While some folks were standing in line waiting to vote on Tuesday, others were in the hospital and not able to make it out to the polls. However, thanks to two women, some patients at St. Luke’s hospital in Boise were able to exercise their right to vote from a hospital bed.
Renee Zerwas is the Director of Volunteer Services for St. Luke's. Vicky Prouty is the Executive Assistant for the Executive Team at St. Luke's Boise. Together, they teamed up and went and took ballots to patients who had unexpectedly had to be admitted to the hospital and therefore weren't able to go to the polls.
So, you're probably wondering how this was possible? Well, they first had to be deputized.
“We had to raise our right hands and swear that we would uphold the rules and regulations of the election office and we had to stay together, we couldn’t be separated during the whole entire voting process until we returned the ballots back to the Ada County elections office,” Prouty told KTVB.
Both women picked up the ballots, then went around to the patients while they filled them out. They then returned the ballots to the election’s office, much to the delight of the hospital patients.
”They were just tickled pink,” Prouty said.
“They were absolutely elated, and they can’t believe we could help accommodate them because they felt like they had to shrug their shoulders and give up on the opportunity to vote and these are people who wanted to have the voting experience on Election Day, and all of a sudden their lives are upside down,” Zerwas said.
She told KTVB her favorite moment of the day was when she got to hold a newborn, while their mom filled out her ballot.
Both women told KTVB this was an honor and a huge responsibility that they took very seriously.
It was the second time they've done it. They also did this during the last election.
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