Voting in the Presidential Election

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AS I WRITE this editorial, we are a little more than 3 weeks away from the presidential election. For someone like me who is a “news junkie,” this is a most exciting time. Besides being exciting, it is an immensely important time as we contemplate the candidates and the issues and prepare to make informed decisions on Election Day. As nurses, we need to think about the issues in terms of their effect on health care. Many of my editorials have emphasized the need for all of us as nurses to be informed about social and political issues and to recognize the importance of the social–political context on the health and health care of our patients and of society in general.

There is no more obvious time for such awareness and involvement as an election season that includes a presidential election. Besides being a historic year in which we may elect the first African American president or the first woman vice president, this year, we are challenged to consider various options that are proposed to improve our health care system and our economy. I doubt that anyone would argue that both our health care system and our economic system are in dire need of improvement. In fact, health care and the economy are inextricably linked to one another. International/Global relationships, too, are linked to health care and the economy. The purpose of this editorial is to emphasize the responsibility that nurses have to learn about the issues, to debate the issues to better understand the varying perspectives, and to ultimately decide how to vote. This editorial does not purport to present opinions on the candidates or the issues; rather, this editorial purports to emphasize why nurses need to form opinions on candidates and issues. Voting also involves making decisions about various propositions in state elections and various local candidates in all election years at all levels (national, state, and local).

So, what is it about nursing that makes it imperative that we vote? For one thing, I believe strongly that we need to have our voices heard beyond our own workplaces. I write this while also recognizing that nurses are not a monolith and that not all nurses will vote the same way. The important thing is to have a voice and to understand the perspectives of differing voices. In fact, in nursing, we celebrate the fact that there are some nurses who are elected officials in local, state, and national legislative bodies and that these legislators are not affiliated with just one political party. Even if nurses disagree in political and legislative arenas, the important thing is that nurses are taking an active role in legislative decisions. This participation will lead to more opportunities for nurses to be appointed to high-level political appointments or other appointments that can be influential within our social–political system. In addition, even if nurses disagree with one another, we can all engage in healthy debate or, as I wrote about in an earlier editorial, we can wage good conflict, a term coined by Dr. Jean Baker Miller of the Stone Center at Wellesley College. By waging good conflict, we can ultimately come to some informed agreements on how best to proceed in certain situations and in relation to certain issues.

Organizations such as the American Nurses Association strongly emphasize nurses' obligation to become politically involved and to learn about the relevance of political issues to nursing and to health care. Educational institutions often also emphasize such involvement. Many schools have a “nurse lobby day” for faculty and students to go to their state capitol and meet with legislators to discuss health care legislation. Our own organization, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), also emphasizes the importance of nurses' political involvement. The AACN Government Relations Committee regularly provides legislative updates to the members and encourages and helps organize member visits to Capitol Hill to discuss relevant legislative issues. By the time this editorial was published, we will have had our Fall AACN meeting which includes such visits to Capitol Hill. In fact, I serve as one of the grassroots liaisons for the California delegation, which is an excellent way to learn about the issues and to actively become engaged in working with other nurses on these issues.

This year, we face a critical election. We are experiencing major economic distress, and we have a health care system in dire need of improvement. We have a civic obligation and a professional duty to seriously consider how we can contribute to constructively addressing these vital problems.

I hope that you will join me in taking an active role in legislation and policy by becoming informed about the issues and by making sure your voice is heard. Sometimes making sure your voice is heard means engaging in debate and having disagreements with colleagues, peers, and friends. As long as these disagreements are conducted as “good conflict,” such discussions should be productive and useful in learning about differing perspectives in an effort to better understand the complexities of the issues. Ultimately, we all will be more informed and more confident when we cast our votes.