Check your health and register to vote: SD clinics diversify
Community health clinics in South Dakota are adding a service to the care they already offer: voter registration.
The state's 34 health centers, including Falls Community Health in Sioux Falls, are launching an effort to get unregistered voters on the rolls.
"We want our patients to realize that their voice does matter," said Paula Hallberg, director of health center support and public policy for the Community Health Care Association of South Dakota.
Community health centers provide medical and other services for people at affordable prices. The centers often accommodate the uninsured, underinsured and minorities.
The centers in South Dakota served 52,314 people in 2006, and 40 percent of those were uninsured.
Those are people who sometimes don't become registered voters, said Jill Franken, assistant public health director for the city of Sioux Falls. And in an election year when health care issues are playing a more vocal role in politics, it's important that the voices of people who use public health services are heard, Franken said.
"Because it's such an important topic for our country and such an important issue for people, it's kind of a (natural fit)," she said. "I think that anybody who's followed the campaigns knows that health care is one of the top five topics discussed."
By law, the centers aren't allowed to advocate for or endorse any political party or candidate.
The registrations started this week, and health center workers offer the chance to register to vote when people fill out regular clinic registration paperwork.
People don't have to be a patient to register.
Hallberg and Franken said they don't know how many people have registered, but it's not just patients who are using the service.
"What's interesting is that even some of our employees are not registered to vote," Hallberg said.
Voter registration forms are available at locations statewide.
By law, forms also are available at county auditor's offices as well as government offices that provide food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, WIC benefits, military assistance and disabled assistance.
Minnehaha County auditor Sue Roust commended the health centers for their efforts. The move is similar to groups who canvass the local homeless population to urge voter registration, she said.
"This may reach some voters that might not be reached through other means," Roust said. "In this community, there's already a lot done to reach everybody."