In an August 12, 2026 letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, a group of Senate Demorcrats criticized the agency’s July 20 memorandum that rescinded earlier voting-rights guidance for nursing homes and replaced it with a version focused more heavily on voter fraud, coercion, and undue influence concerns. The Senators, led by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), asked CMS to rescind the July 2026 memo and reinstate the earlier 2024 guidance it replaced, arguing that the new guidance could discourage or complicate residents’ access to voting assistance.
CMS has maintained that the memorandum does not create new requirements and simply reinforces existing obligations under federal and state election laws. Nursing homes continue to be responsible for supporting residents’ rights to vote while ensuring assistance is resident-directed, properly documented, and compliant with applicable election laws.
LeadingAge will continue monitoring developments. We encourage members to review the resident voting resources we compiled in the leadup to the 2026 elections.
