Millions of Americans will flock to the polls this election day – and under different circumstances Tammy Harris would be one of them – but this year she found herself with a dilemma.
HARRIS: I didn't know how I was gonna vote. I knew that when I got outa here with my stomach there wasn't no way I was gonna stand in no line.
Harris was in the hospital recovering from surgery when a volunteer knocked on her door and asked if she would like an absentee ballot
SPROCHI: Hi, I 'm a volunteer with the Cleveland Clinic and the Cuyahoga County board of elections ....
HARRIS: I been waitin' on ya
Phyllis Sprochi and a team of other Cleveland Clinic volunteers have been going room to room, asking individual patients if they would like to vote. Later, volunteers from the board of elections will personally bring ballots to registered Cuyahoga County voters.
HARRIS: She brought the paper in here for me to fill out 'cause I told em' I want to cast my vote...
SPROCHI: And now tomorrow someone will come by with the actual ballot, and then you'll fill out the ballot and seal it in the envelope and it will go down to the board of elections and then be counted.
In previous elections voters in nursing homes and hospitals who were unable to make it to the polls had few advocates. But beginning in the primary elections last March, election volunteers began reaching out to hospitals, nursing homes and private residences–offering bedridden voters the chance to cast a ballot. So far, the board of elections estimates they've gathered more than 5 thousand votes from 104 nursing homes and 24 hospitals in Cuyahoga County. They'll continue to deliver ballots to any Cuyahoga County registered voter who faxes a request to them before 3pm today.
Gretchen Cuda, 90.3