With less than a week before the midterm elections, Democratic senators are demanding that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz disclose whether the agency communicated with far-right groups promoting baseless claims that left-wing organizations are stealing votes from nursing home residents. The senators are also calling on CMS to restore earlier guidance that explained how nursing home staff could help residents participate in elections.
CMS replaced guidance on helping nursing home residents vote
In July 2026, CMS issued a memo that canceled previous guidance on how nursing home staff could assist residents with mail-in ballots and 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 began citing the change last month while escalating unsubstantiated claims that voter fraud was taking place inside nursing homes.
Senators ask Oz to disclose communications
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 the Steve Bannon’s War Room Show.
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. They “urgently request that CMS rescind the July 2026 Memorandum and reinstate the July 2020 Memorandum: 2024 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 Project Civica, a New York-based e-voting group. They want CMS 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.
Oz previously said neutral voting assistance was allowed
Warren sent Oz a letter in August questioning the July memo and asking him to rescind the changes. In September, Oz responded to questions about voting 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.
The senators cited the apparent contradiction between that statement and CMS’s decision not to restore the earlier guidance. In their letter, they asked Oz: “Why did CMS not reinstate previous guidance clarifying nursing homes’ responsibilities to promote resident voting rights?”
Election conspiracy claims continue before the midterms
With only days remaining before the midterm elections, efforts to spread baseless 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.”
At the same time, his administration has spent months promoting conspiracy theories about mail-in voting and non-referendum voting while actively trying to disenfranchise voters.
Source: www.wired.com