Woman in labor refused to go to hospital until she voted, poll worker says
A pregnant woman in Florida refused to go directly to the hospital to give birth on Tuesday. First, she insisted on stopping to vote in the 2020 election.
Karen Briceño González, an employee with the Supervisor of Elections Office in Orange County, Florida, told CBS affiliate WKMG that when she was working, a man who had been waiting in line walked up to her at about 2:30 p.m. "All of a sudden, I get a voter in front of me and he hands me two driver's licenses," she said.
"I told him, 'I need your driver's license for you to vote.' He says, 'No, you don't understand. I already voted,'" González remembered.
The man told González it was his wife who needed to vote, but she was in labor and was waiting in the car, WKMG reports. "I go, 'We need her here.' And he basically told me, 'That's gonna be a problem. She refuses to go to the hospital until she votes,'" she said.
That's when González, who is also a mother, went outside. She tried giving the woman a mail-in ballot, telling her she needed to mail it by November 3, but the woman refused.
"She said, 'No no no, I need to fill it out right now,'" González said. "It was an odd situation, but she wanted to vote and that was her right as an American citizen."
"She was calm, the husband was a little bit more nervous," González said. "We want to facilitate every voter that is eligible to vote, the right to vote no matter their circumstances."
"I understand the importance of this election to some people. I gave her an 'I voted' sticker and she was on her way to the hospital. She was very happy that she got to vote," she continued.
The Supervisor of Elections Office staff is hoping to reunite with the newborn and mom, González said. "I hope that the baby is safe and she is safe and they are assured that their ballot was put in the ballot box and that their vote will be counted," she said.
