A Florida woman in labor refused to go to the hospital without voting first.
According to CNN, Karen Briceño González — a voter service department worker in Orlando — was processing ballots at the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office when a man walked into the office, and requested “a vote-by-mail ballot for his wife who was in labor in the car outside.”
“I was helping at the counter with the voters for early voting, and I got a gentleman handing me two driver’s licenses,” Briceño González recalled. “I was telling him, ‘No, I just need yours. If the other person wants to come in and vote, they can.’ And he said, ‘No, you don’t understand. My wife’s going to have a baby.’”
Briceño González quickly printed the ballot and rushed to the car to confirm the woman’s identification and ensure she was registered to vote. She then handed her a ticket to fill out at a later time, but the woman casted her vote on the spot “in between breaths.” The pregnant woman received a voting sticker, thanked the poll workers for a stress-free experience and headed to the hospital.
“I have not seen anything like this before, but our job is to make sure that every eligible voter votes,” said Briceño González. “No matter the circumstances, we’re going to ensure that they vote even if it’s someone in labor in a car.”
“I was happy to print out the ballot and just make sure that I made it as easy as possible so she could go ahead and go to the hospital,” she continued. “I just wanted to make sure that as an American citizen that she got to vote.”
Per CBS 4, the staff at the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office plans to gift the newborn baby with a onesie that reads “First Vote” and stickers that say “Future Voter.”