By Elizabeth Dallam Ayoub | February 6, 2024
After spending 55 years as a nurse and then as a long-term care surveyor for the State of Michigan, Rosemary Tanner has spent almost a lifetime making sure that those who live in long-term care facilities are being treated as the laws demand. Both federal and state laws as well as rules and regulations ensure that residents have all of the rights they are entitled and have the quality of care that attracted them to a particular facility.
Tanner spent nine years driving from facilities that spanned from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron and from Grand Rapids to Michigan’s southern border, Rosemary donned her state car and state certification to work for something she feels passionate about.
“Just because they’re in a nursing home doesn’t mean they give up their right to vote,” Rosemary said of the residents of the 400-600 nursing care facilities in the State of Michigan.
And, Rosemary adds, their “right to vote” means voting for the candidates they choose, not having their ballot completed by someone else. Rosemary felt incensed when she learned of the nurses’ aide at the Father Murray Nursing Home in Detroit who completed the ballots for many residents. The aide filled out the ballot herself. michigan.gov/macomb-county-nursing-home-employee-pleads-guilty-in-attempted-election-fraud-case
During her career Rosemary was trained yearly both in Lansing and in San Diego, learning about federal and state laws and regulations that affect long-term care facilities. After receiving her CMS certification from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, her job involved being what she describes as a “regulator and enforcer.”
Tanner’s career-long passion for caring for vulnerable voters compelled her to something similar in her retirement, to volunteer for Michigan Fair Elections. In her new capacity, Rosemary works to regulate and enforce election laws and processes, to make sure they’re heeded and not violated-by facilities or outside influencers.
While attending an Election Integrity Network seminar in Detroit, she learned of the need to protect vulnerable voters in elections and thought, “I can do something like that.”
Through her work with Michigan Fair Elections, Tanner has become part of a national working group of the Election Integrity Network. There she reports on what Michigan is doing to help vulnerable voters and learns what other states are doing. She is the Jackson County Coalition Leader for Michigan Fair Elections.
The incident at the Father Murray nursing home in Detroit prompted Rosemary to volunteer. An employee was found to have wrongfully taken residents’ ballots. Rather than delivering the ballots to their rightful owners, the employee completed them herself. As a volunteer for Michigan Fair Elections, Rosemary knows that every ineligible vote nullifies a legitimate vote.
Michigan nursing home worker gets jail time for voter fraud (Detroit News, Feb. 25, 2022)
Tanner, a wealth of information as to the laws and regulations impacting nursing homes, speaks of the rights of nursing home residents. For example, the facility must provide residents with access to voting. Residents must receive personally the absentee ballots sent to them. Residents are entitled to have information left by any election group or candidate available to them. Last but not least, nursing homes must allow any candidate or any election group to come to the facility to meet residents who want to meet them.
To make sure that long term care facilities and residential facilities comply with the law, Rosemary and her team of other MFE volunteers have drafted a letter that they are sending to all these facilities to remind them of the law.
Tanner has retired from her job with the State of Michigan. She has stepped out of her state-owned vehicle for the last time, and she has let her certifications expire. But her care and concern that facilities continue to follow the law, have become a part of who Rosemary is.
Rosemary is one of many volunteers who said, “I can do something like that,” to help with election integrity.
And you, are you like Rosemary? Can you say: , “I can do something like that.”?
Please donate your time and financial support for the cause of election integrity. You can do something like this.
State Operations Manual of Regulations Nursing Facilities
483.10(b) 483.10(b) (1) 483.10(b) (2)
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Elizabeth Dallam Ayoub serves as MFE’s director of communications. She started her career working for an international company, transitioned into teaching French and Latin while her children were young, and then became a Michigan attorney.
News @ Noon: MFE Coalition Task Force Meetings
Join us Thursday, February 8th at 12 PM for
MFE's Coalition Task Force Meeting
Registration is required to attend the meeting.
After registering, you will receive an email with details on to join the meeting.
Register below:
Please note: No representatives of the media are allowed in our meetings.
Please donate to Michigan Fair Elections.
MFE is a fiercely independent, tax-exempt 501(c)3 charity. We rely on voluntary contributions to fund our important, and sometimes costly, work. Legal claims are sometimes essential to improve the government and protect citizen rights, and they can be expensive.
Please support MFE's investigative research, honest journalism, and litigative actions to defend We the People's inalienable rights as protected in the U.S. Constitution. Donate today to assist our educational efforts to protect the principles of individual liberty in America.
Mark Your Calendar:
WANTED: Poll Challengers and Election Inspectors
Pure Integrity Michigan Elections (PIME) is renewing its participation in the statewide Election Protection Team to make sure cities and towns across the Mitten State have an equal partisan balance of election inspectors and poll challengers, as the law requires.
If you are interested in becoming an election inspector or poll challenger, fill out the form at: www.electionprotectionteam.com/MI. Once you sign up, you will be emailed a list of poll challenger trainings.
All poll challengers must attend at least one training to be placed at a location in 2024. To register, click on one of the Training Schedule links below. If you cannot attend one of these training sessions, more will be scheduled for February.
Virtual (Zoom) Training Schedule
Wednesday, February 7th at 7:00 PM (RSVP here)
Thursday, February 8th at 11:00 AM (RSVP here)
Monday, February 12th at 1:00 PM (RSVP here)
Wednesday, February 14th at 7:00 PM (RSVP here)
Thursday, February 15th at 11:00 AM (RSVP here)
Monday, February 19th at 1:00 PM (RSVP here)
Wednesday, February 21 at 7:00 PM (RSVP here)
Monday, February 26 at 1:00 PM (RSVP here)
Mark your calendars to attend Election Integrity Network's outstanding national working groups. Consider also serving as liaison to report to MFE's Task Force Coalition on our Thursday meetings.
Citizen Research Project | Ned Jones, EIN
Every Tuesday at 6 p.m. (ET)
Election Technology | Jim Womack, NCEIT
Every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Introduction to Election Integrity Infrastructure | Kerri Toloczko and Ned Jones, EIN
Every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
Vote By Mail / USPS | Ned Jones, EIN
Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Legislative Development | Kathleen Harms, TN
Every Wednesday at 2 p.m. (ET)
Voter Roll Maintenance | Willard Helander, EIN
Every Wednesday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Vulnerable Voters | Kerri Toloczko, EIN
Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Every 1st Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
Election Audits | Mike Raisch
Every 1st and 3rd Thursday at 4 p.m. (ET)
Building Local Task Forces | Joshua Taylor
Every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
Media Training | Kerri Toloczko
Every 1st Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET)
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Michigan Fair Elections. Artificial intelligence may have been used in the creation of this message or in the links referenced herein.