With less than a week before the midterm elections, a group of Democratic senators is pressing Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz to disclose whether the agency communicated with far-right groups promoting baseless claims that left-wing organizations are stealing nursing home residents’ votes. The senators also want CMS to restore earlier guidance on helping residents participate in elections.
CMS withdrew guidance on voting assistance
In July, Oz’s agency issued a memo that canceled previous guidance explaining how nursing home staff could help residents vote, including by assisting with mail-in ballots and arranging transportation to polling places.
The new memo replaced that guidance with a warning that officials could face prosecution if they “engage in inappropriate coercion or other violations of resident rights.” Election-denial groups subsequently began making stronger claims that voter fraud was taking place inside nursing homes.
The campaign was led by the Election Integrity Network, a group headed by Cleta Mitchell, a former adviser to President Donald Trump. “These left-wing groups are going into nursing homes and group homes and basically stealing the votes of the most vulnerable people,” Mitchell said on a recent episode of Steve Bannon’s War Room Show.
Senators ask CMS to disclose communications
Citing WIRED’s reporting on the nursing home conspiracy theory, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Alex Padilla, Mazie Hirono, Ron Wyden, Kirsten Gillibrand, Jeff Merkley and Cory Booker wrote to CMS requesting that the agency “urgently” rescind the July 2026 memorandum and reinstate the July 2020 Nursing Home Voting Guidance.
“This sucks,” Warren told WIRED. “The Trump administration’s baseless allegations of election fraud are prompting election denial groups to harass nursing home residents and staff. With less than a week until Election Day, every American legislator must stand up for a fair election and stop this attack on seniors’ right to vote.”
The senators specifically asked Oz about communications between CMS, Mitchell, the Election Integrity Network and the New York-based group Project Civica. They asked him to “identify each organization and individual involved, the date and content of the communications, and the recommendations provided to CMS.”
A CMS spokesperson did not answer questions about the agency’s communications with election-denial groups and instead referred WIRED to the July 2026 memo. Mitchell, the Election Integrity Network and Project Civica did not respond to requests for comment.
Questions over conflicting explanations
Warren sent Oz a letter in August questioning the July memo and asking him to withdraw the changes. In September, Oz responded directly to questions about voting assistance guidance that had been removed from the CMS website.
“Providing neutral logistical support, such as helping residents request mail-in ballots to fill out their ballots according to their expressed wishes, or arranging transportation to the polling place, is not conduct that would give rise to a voter fraud investigation,” Oz wrote.
Pointing to the apparent contradiction, the senators asked Oz: “Why did CMS not reinstate previous guidance clarifying nursing homes’ responsibilities to promote resident voting rights?”
With only days remaining before the midterm elections, efforts to spread baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud continue. On Tuesday, President Trump said he was open to accepting positive midterm election results if they came from “honest elections.” His administration, however, has spent months promoting conspiracy theories about mail-in voting and non-referendum voting while actively seeking to disenfranchise voters.
Source: www.wired.com
