Updated August 2026
We know that voting is a foundational social determinant of health and that those hit first and worst by climate change are also usually disenfranchised by multiple structural barriers. As a trusted messenger on health, we can help our patients and colleagues understand the link between their health and civic participation.
2026 General Election
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Meeting the Moment 2026 Midterm Election Toolkit
This election toolkit is designed to assist your activism during this election season. Health professionals are uniquely positioned to use our trusted, non-partisan voices to connect the dots between health, climate disruption, and fossil fuel pollution. To protect our patients from the climate health emergency, it is essential that the health community do everything we can to raise climate health awareness and foster informed voting for health.
The toolkit contains:
- Candidate questions and related activities
- Get Out the Vote and voting protection resources
- Social media posts and visual materials
- Other resources and guidance
Election Earth 10-Week GOTV Activation Challenge Toolkit
The Election Earth 10-Week GOTV Activation Challenge gives you one clear, meaningful action each week to vote your climate values, help others vote, and show up for the people, places, and future you care about.
Each action is simple enough to do on your own and powerful enough for an organization, congregation, workplace, health network, or community group to build around. Whether you are a first-time voter, a longtime voter, a Climate Ambassador, or a partner organization mobilizing your members, this challenge is designed to make civic participation easier, more visible, and more impactful.
These additional resources can help you take action on multiple levels. Click the icons below or scroll to get started.
Talk to Your Patients
By providing resources on voting and voter registration to your patients — particularly if you serve communities already burdened by environmental inequities — you can support greater civic engagement in communities at the local, state, and federal levels. To learn more about the environmental health burdens in your community as you consider the health threats your patients face, you can use this unofficial copy of the EJScreen mapping tool.
Vot-ER Resources
The Consortium is excited to partner with Vot-ER to empower our patients to access their right to vote. Vot-ER develops nonpartisan civic engagement tools and programs for every corner of the healthcare system—from private practitioners to medical schools to hospitals.
Badges
Vot-ER badges are an easy way for health care professionals to integrate civic engagement into their practice. Patients scan the badge’s QR code to access a nonpartisan, self-service voter platform where they can register, request a mail-in ballot, and learn about upcoming elections.
Custom Materials
Vot-ER’s custom materials are free digital resources created in partnership with hospitals and clinics nationwide. This suite of materials includes printable posters, flyers, and handouts, digital signage, and a custom ordering link for staff to request physical badges.
Conversation Starters
Made in collaboration with voting experts and health care professionals, Vot-ER’s voter scripts (available in English and Spanish) are nonpartisan, research-backed, and appropriate for most clinical settings. Find training videos on how to initiate these conversations here.
In addition to using Vot-ER resources, you can:
- Help your hospitalized patients apply for an Emergency Absentee Ballot
- Download and use these GOTV stickers/buttons, flyers, and posters (available in multiple colors and English and Spanish) from the Consortium to amplify the importance of voting among your patients, colleagues, and community
Talk to Your Colleagues and Organizations
Research has shown that eligible physicians and other healthcare professionals are significantly less likely to vote than the general population.
Voting significantly impacts our communities’ health by influencing policies affecting our well-being. As healthcare professionals, we recognize that voting is a crucial social determinant of health, enabling us to address the broader factors influencing patient well-being beyond the confines of the exam room. We can lead by example, encouraging voter engagement among our colleagues to foster a healthier society.
Lead by Example and Encourage Your Colleagues to Vote
Take the We Will Vote Pledge
Join the Thrive Through Civic Health: We Will Vote (WWV) pledge initiative led by the Civic Health Alliance, Healthy Democracy Healthy People, and Vot-ER. Join your colleagues across the health sector to assert: We Will Vote. Pledge to vote in upcoming elections, encourage others to do the same, and support elections through volunteer roles in your community.
Make & Share Your Voting Plan
Vote.org provides a list of everything you need to vote and can help you:
- See what’s on your local ballot
- Check your voter registration
- Register to vote
- Vote by mail
- Get election reminders
- Learn your state’s deadlines/dates/rules for voting
Resident & Trainee Voting Guide
The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health has created a new guide that outlines all the information residents and trainees need to make a plan and vote this November and every election, including details on requesting an absentee ballot, early voting options, and finding your polling place. This guide can also be used for students and fellows.
Healthy Democracy Campaign
The Healthy Democracy Campaign (HDC) is a voter registration drive led by students in medical school and other healthcare ed programs. Vot-ER provides each school team with badges, training, customized online resources for voters, and more. Each team will also be paired with a Vot-ER organizer who will support them throughout the campaign.
Enlist Your Organization to Support Civic Engagement
We Will Vote Pledge for Organizations
After taking the WWV pledge yourself, encourage your organization to do the same. By signing on, organizations commit to strengthening our democracy by promoting nonpartisan voter participation across their memberships, employees, and affiliates.
Civic Health Compact
The Civic Health Compact was designed to help provide concrete and actionable steps health care delivery organizations can take to address some of the upstream drivers of health inequities and optimize civic engagement amongst their staff, patients, and communities.
Present About Civic Health and Vot-ER
Help colleagues and leaders at your institution understand the link between health, voting, and the social and structural determinants of health using this presentation from Vot-ER and MSCCH. Plus, introduce them to the benefits of Vot-ER and healthcare-based voter registration.
Talk to Policymakers
2026 Candidate Questions & Related Activities
Each question in the candidate guide below contains these three elements, which are color-coded, with yellow for personalization. Pick one or two to ask and modify them to reflect your own tone of voice.
FRAME— Make the connection between climate and health, the policies involved, and civic engagement as a solution.
PATIENT STORY — Share a real (anonymized) patient story, or your own or colleagues’ experience as a clinician. Show the human cost. This is what makes the question memorable.
THE ASK – An open-ended question connecting the health harm to a specific policy, and closing the loop to voting and accountable government.
Personalize and Make it Local. Text in yellow indicates sections in which to insert your own details. [Brackets] indicate several options to choose from.
2024 Candidate Guide
In the guide below, we provide five questions that every candidate, regardless of political party, should be asked about their plans to address climate change as a crisis of health and equity.
How to take action and use these questions:
Candidates participate in many events and forums, which are either sponsored by community-based and political organizations or hosted by their own campaign. Sign up to participate—see if you can send in questions in advance or sign up to ask a question. To find events, you can sign up for candidates’ mailing lists, reach out directly, or use an online resource. If you’re with a 501(c)(3), make sure you first understand the legal limitations of your organization. Bolder Advocacy has a good resource to start with.
Consider emailing these questions to all candidates from each party running for office (to remain nonpartisan). Ask them to read it or ask if they’d like to discuss it on a call.
When communicating with candidates, consider including your own perspective as a provider or public health professional— how have you seen climate change impact health firsthand?
Consider hosting your own virtual, nonpartisan candidate forum to learn about the views of many candidates. If a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, ensure that you understand the legal guidelines and guidance—here’s a good resource to start with.
Share these questions with your colleagues and on social media.
Visit your candidates’ website and review their position on climate change. See if these questions can be answered through their stated policies on climate.