DEMENTIA CARE: VOTING WITH DEMENTIA.

I’ve covered this topic before.
   There’s an election at the start of the month. I blog at the start of the month. Let’s combine the two. At this stage, it’s too late to arrange a lot of things. But there are procedures to keep in mind.
   I’ve already voted by post. A postal vote can go off at any time. It’s convenient. Better for carers. Also, with Covid flying around from now until the end of time, the postal vote reduces your chance of passing anything on to an immuno-compromised person you care for.
   And I’ve handled aspects of the voting process for my mother. Her dementia and her arthritis made voting more and more difficult as time passed.
   She also has a postal vote. On top of that, she has a waiver that allows her to vote without a signature. The postal vote has three components. Provide your date of birth. Sign the document. Make your vote in the box.
   Often the vote itself is an X in the box. Sometimes it is a number. Depends what you are voting for.
   I can assist someone with dementia. She doesn’t sign the form. For quickness, I fill in her date of birth. That is allowed. Says so in the paperwork that comes with the postal vote. And I help her hold the pencil so that she doesn’t spoil the ballot paper by writing outside of the voting box.
   Her voting intention was clear before she developed dementia. She would not change her voting intention. I honour and respect that. We talk it over. In the past, I’ve gone to great lengths to create a rehearsal page on a blank piece of paper.
   Just draw a cross in the box.
   Shaky handwriting. Cross extends out of the box.
   Here’s another box to try on. Keep it inside the box.
   Shaky handwriting. Cross stays inside the box.
   Here’s the actual box you want.
   Discusses how she won’t be voting for the bastards.
   Places cross in box. Not for the bastards, though.
   This time she was quieter. I held the pencil for her. She took it. We secured the pencil. She took it again. We got there. Once more I asked her to draw. I made it easier by asking her to draw a line. And another line. She created a shaky cross. It stayed inside the box.
   Not a disaster if she went over the box. Unless she went on a world tour of the other boxes. I was there to bring that to a halt if it happened. Pencil. You can rub out mistakes.
   So what don’t I do? I don’t vote on her behalf. It’s not me, scribbling the shaky line. I preserve her voting intention by making sure she doesn’t accidentally vote for the bastards. So, no, I don’t put the cross in the box for her. That is illegal.
   If I want to vote on her behalf, honouring her voting intentions, I need a PROXY vote. That’s perfectly legal. Then I can fill in the box myself. One day I know I’ll have to switch over to doing that. But you don’t want to take things away from people. While she still can hold a pencil and make the cross, no matter how shakily, I leave her to do that.
   You can’t fill it in yourself. They can and do check the handwriting. Yes, I have Power of Attorney. It does not grant any special right to vote on someone else’s behalf. You need a PROXY vote and that is that.
   So. Don’t vote for someone else unless you have the proper procedure in place. And don’t write that you’ve voted for someone with dementia on the ballot paper. Don’t write DEMENTIA. And don’t write POWER OF ATTORNEY. You don’t write THIS IS WHAT UNCLE ARTHUR WANTED.
   On a ballot paper, the voter is allowed to record a vote. Nothing else. You don’t write a single word on there. Record your own vote using the technique required. If it’s a cross in one box, put a cross in one box.
   If you have dementia, you may still be able to do this. And if someone has Power of Attorney on your behalf…that person can’t vote for you. It’s illegal.
   I’m posting this blog on the first of the month. The next election is on the fourth of the month. It’s too late to arrange a lot of helpful things at this stage. The second we are told there’ll be a General Election…that’s when we review the procedures that should already be in place. Do we need to update anything, and fast?
   No updates were required. A message flopped through the letterbox confirming who was eligible to vote at this address. We’d receive the postal vote packages shortly. If we didn’t receive them by a certain date, we should contact the office.
   Everything arrived on time. I went through the procedure for my own vote and sealed the envelope. Then I had the other procedure to deal with. The pencil should not be sharp. Dulled, but not blunt…
   You don’t want a needle-point of a pencil pinging off into the distance, bringing down light aircraft. Don’t puncture the paper. No drinks nearby when this is going on. There’s no care team. Just me. No distractions. A decent thing to lean on. Don’t puncture the paper.
   Sending a probe to Mars is a wee bit more complex than this. But you do feel that you are launching a spaceship when you take care of tiny details like…no drinks. No food. Clean hands. Hand the pencil over a few times before you bring the ballot paper in.
   She does what she has to do. I slip the pencil up so there are no mistakes once the vote is in the bag. I triple-check the paperwork. Seal the deal. Then I go out into the summer night, encountering only cats for company on the streets.
   There are two drunks in a house, having a blah of a conversation. Loud enough to tell that they are drunk. Not loud enough to understand the talk. I don’t catch Covid as I vote. The votes are away. Only crosses. No words, numbers, other symbols, lengthy diatribes, short rants, nothing…just the votes.
    In some ways, this vote was easier as well as more difficult. Dementia and arthritis advance in tiny steps. But elections are years apart. There was an angry phase. That went away. Now there’s laughter.
   I was interrupted by the care team, phoning to tell me they’ll be here as soon as possible. If they are delayed heavily, they will phone in to reassure people. I handle all the pills, so I am more easy-going than other people who need assistance…
   The carers must phone in to a load of people who need pills at certain times. That call was a courtesy. I was sitting here getting this blog done, waiting for the carers, so I knew the delays that we’ve had all week would carry on to yet another morning.
   No big deal.
   Reminds me. My postal vote doesn’t have to be slotted in around the carer visits. Get postal votes if you are a carer. Make sure the cared-for get those postal votes as well. Dementia, arthritis, mobility issues, risk of Covid…these factors make voting in person difficult. Get a postal vote. And arrange a signature waiver for things like arthritis and dementia. You should gain Power of Attorney for many other reasons – nothing to do with voting.
   If you must vote on someone else’s behalf, there’s a PROXY procedure for that. Arrange it. Try to arrange all this BEFORE the next election cycle comes up. The only thing that goes on the ballot paper is the vote. Your ballot paper – your vote.
   Yes, the law allows for some assistance. They can check my paperwork and see my handwriting listing my date of birth. Out of the same address, they can check my mother’s paperwork and see my handwriting listing my mother’s date of birth. Absolutely fine legal assistance, permitted under the law and explained on the guidance provided with the postal vote package.
   There are people out there who are, frankly, way out there, who believe the postal vote is a back door to electoral fraud on a massive scale. There are load of checks on voting papers. Matching serial numbers, for a start. And other security features we aren’t aware of.
   The postal vote allows people with mobility issues to vote more easily. They don’t get to vote more than once, though. Postal voting, signature waivers, and voting by proxy all make life easier for carers and the people we care for.
   I still don’t vote on my mother’s behalf. That’s illegal. Why would I do that, when I can easily obtain the proxy vote…
   This isn’t the first blog post I’ve done on the topic. I’ve covered it here as there’s an election this week. It’s too late to arrange things at the last second. If you are bewildered by it all, just remember there are many steps you can take.
   Involve the voter with dementia. Grab a blank piece of paper and draw boxes on it. Rehearse putting a cross in a box. No distractions. Honour the voting intention. Let the cared-for do the vote. If you have to cover up the box voting for the bastards to avoid an accidental electoral upset, by all means cover the bastards up.
   This might be the last vote involving a shaky hand loosely holding a long pencil. At some point, I’ll have to change to a proxy process. Maybe this is it. Partly a dementia thing. But also very much an arthritis thing, too.
   The carers came in and told me all about the extra jobs they were handed in addition to the regulars on the run. One of the jobs was a job they weren’t actually told about. So they were asked WHY HAVEN’T YOU BEEN TO THE PLACE WE NEVER TOLD YOU TO GO TO? And that gave me time to write the bulk of this blog post.
   Have a plan. The plan is to keep your planning flexible. There’s always one more thing to do. And I make a point of having things to do while the carers are in. There are always things to do while you wait for the carers to reach you.
   Everyone on the care team is arranging holidays. If they aren’t in the country on election day, they could have voted by post. Another reason to get a postal vote.