Paul S. Appelbaum|Richard J. Bonnie|Jason Karlawish
The Capacity to Vote of Persons With Alzheimer’s Disease
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
objective right vote abrogated persons become incompetent cast ballot applies particularly people alzheimers disease point lose capacity 2001 federal court decision offered first clear criteria doe voting capacity standard determining voting competence focused understanding nature effect voting ability choose article explores persons alzheimers disease perform criteria method doe standard operationalized brief questionnaire along measures appreciation reasoning voting choices performance assessed 33 patients attending alzheimers disease clinic related dementia severity demographic characteristics results interview questions scored high reliability performance doe questions along appreciation reasoning correlated strongly minimental state examination mmse scores patients mild mild alzheimers disease generally retained adequate ability vote persons severe alzheimers disease performance highly variable among persons moderate alzheimers disease desire vote poor predictor voting capacity conclusions capacity vote embodied doe voting capacity standard measured simply reliably structured assessment particularly likely useful people moderate alzheimers disease whose performance cannot predicted mmse scores alone approach ensure retention voting rights capable persons exclusion clearly impaired persons voting booth