A woman in active labor made sure her ballot was cast before heading to the hospital Monday morning in Topeka. Election workers carried her completed ballot the final 70 to 80 feet to the casting location after she agreed to their help, The Kansas City Star reported.
The episode recalls a separate case from the 2020 U.S. presidential election: Newsweek reported that a woman in labor stopped at a voting office in Orange County, Florida, while on her way to the hospital. In that case, her husband went inside to request an in-person vote while she waited in a car. The accounts share the unusual circumstance of a voter seeking to vote while in labor, but describe different ways the ballot was handled; two examples do not establish a broader pattern.
In Topeka, the woman’s contractions were about five minutes apart when election workers encountered her, according to the Star. Assistant election commissioner Jake Fisher said she had finished marking her ballot but faced the walk to the casting location. She authorized Fisher and another worker to take it there. By the time a family member arrived to drive her to the hospital, her contractions were two minutes apart.
The Star reported that the woman had previously worked as an election worker. Fisher said the office planned to follow up, but no update on the woman or baby after she left for the hospital has been reported.
