Election day is just weeks away, and early voting has begun in many states. HRiA has put together this special edition blog post about the power of voting and its connection to public health, the history of voter suppression, and what we can do to get out the vote and ensure the strength and continued resiliency of our democracy.
Voting is a public health issue. The policies we vote on shape the social determinants of health, from housing and education to jobs and environmental quality. That makes voting a powerful tool for health equity. There is significant evidence – including from the Health and Democracy Index and From Ballots to Better Health report – that makes clear that individual and community health outcomes are strongly related to voter participation, civic engagement, and trust in government. Civic engagement is a driver of belonging, which is associated with health outcomes, and communities with less restrictive voting rights have better health care access.
The public health and health care sectors serve critical roles in upholding democracy and ensuring voting access, and HRiA is a part of that ecosystem. Recognizing that we are more powerful in partnership, we are active coalition members of the National Democracy and Health Partnership, Democracy 2025, and Public Health for Community Power.
HRiA’s Commitment to Getting Out the Vote
Voting and civic engagement are essential to a strong democracy, and we have taken the following steps to promote this among our staff:
- Staff members can use a personal day to volunteer as a poll worker or poll monitor on Election Day.
- Staff members can flex their schedules or use personal time to vote or join other civic engagement activities.
- We distribute information and online resources about voting, deadlines, and how to register or request mail-in ballots to staff and our networks.
These are a few simple ways that organizations can support their staff members and promote civic engagement. You can find more resources in the Action Items section at the end of this post. We invite you to explore how you can do this at your workplace.
Voter Suppression and Why Voting is So Important
The right to vote is the core of our American democracy. However, it has never been available to all of us. Over centuries, we have had to fight to expand the right to vote to include Black men (15th Amendment, 1870) and women (19th Amendment, 1920). In 1943, Chinese immigrants earned the right to citizenship and the right to vote. In 1948, Arizona and New Mexico became the last states to extend full voting rights to Native Americans in defiance of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.
Today, the criminal justice system has taken away the right to vote from millions of people due to a felony conviction and incarceration. While many states reinstate voting rights after a period, in some states, the loss of the right to vote is permanent. And because Black and Latino men are disproportionately convicted of felonies and sentenced for longer than whites convicted of the same crime, they are disproportionately disenfranchised.
Immigrants—including those with proper documentation and long-term residency whose contributions are vital to our economy and societal health—are not eligible to vote in the U.S. without completing the arduous process of becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. Currently, the voting rights of U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico, like the voting rights of residents of other U.S. territories, differ from those U.S. citizens in each of the fifty states and DC. Residents of Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories do not have voting representation in the U.S. Congress, and are not entitled to electoral votes for president.
Even when the right to vote is secured, voter suppression tactics make it difficult or impossible to exercise it. Jim Crow laws, poll taxes, and challenges to Black voters’ eligibility, kept many Black Americans from voting until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Those protections keep eroding, most recently with the Supreme Court’s April 2026 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which makes it far harder to challenge maps that dilute the votes of Black and Latino communities.
Today’s tactics fall hardest on communities of color, people with disabilities, young people, and older adults. Texas’s mid-decade redistricting in 2025 set off a nationwide gerrymandering race. The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to register, such as a $165 passport, a modern-day poll tax for the more than 21 million Americans who lack those documents. A March 2026 executive order seeking to limit voting by mail remains tied up in court, a Postal Service postmark rule means ballots may not be postmarked the day they’re mailed, and private groups filed more than 185,000 mass challenges to voters’ eligibility in 2024.
Voting is Vital to Our Democracy
Recent events have shown that the foundation of our democracy is fragile, built upon just over 7,500 words written in our Constitution and its amendments. Our freedoms, principles, and institutions (including the right to vote) aren’t guaranteed – they require our active engagement and vigilance to protect and strengthen them.
Action Items
Prepare to Vote
Check your voter registration status.
Register to vote online or by mail.
Find your state’s key dates for registration, early voting, and voting by mail.
See what your ballot will look like by entering your address at Ballotpedia.
Vote by Mail
Request a mail-in ballot (aka an absentee ballot).
If you’re not sure if you will vote in person or by mail, you can request the ballot and decide later.
If you decide to vote by mail, return your completed ballot ASAP. You can mail it back or drop it off at a local voting location.
Vote in Person
You can vote early in person at select locations in your town (find your early voting location). You can also vote in person on Election Day at your regular polling location.
If you’re going to vote in person, make a plan! Confirm where you vote, reserve time in your calendar, and make travel plans. Ask your employer or boss if you can adjust your work schedule. If you’re an employer, consider allowing your staff to adjust their schedules or provide flexibility so they can make time to vote on election day.
Protect Our Democracy
- Volunteer to be a poll worker in your town.
- Find local opportunities to support poll monitoring, election integrity, and voting access
- Join efforts to fight gerrymandering and promote fair redistricting and voting reforms across the US, such as Redistricting Action or FairVote.
- Join efforts to fight voter suppression nationwide, such as Reclaim Our Vote, Fair Fight or League of Women Voters.
- Pick a campaign and get involved! Candidates and causes need your energy, time, and resources NOW. You can donate, make phone calls, send text messages, write letters, and other things to encourage people to vote.
- Learn more with resources from Democracy Docket and Democracy Forward.
Spread the Word
Share this blog post with at least five people in your personal and professional networks. If you aren’t eligible to vote, you can still talk with others about the importance of voting and encouraging them to do so.
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