By Tom Batchelor
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A pregnant woman who was in labor and on her way to hospital to give birth stopped off at a polling station first to vote in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The remarkable detour was reported on Tuesday at a voting office in Orange County, Florida.
According to Karen Briceño González, an employee at the county's Supervisor of Elections Office, the unnamed woman's husband arrived at the office requesting his wife vote in person while en route to the labor ward.
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"All of a sudden I get a voter in front of me and he hands me two driver's licenses," Briceño González told WKMG.
"He had been waiting in line, and I came and told him, 'I need your driver's license for you to vote.' He says, 'No, you don't understand. I already voted.'"
The man then told Briceño González his wife "refuses to go to the hospital until she votes" and that she was waiting in a car outside in order to cast her ballot.
When Briceño González informed the pregnant woman that she could send her ballot back in the mail, she replied that she wanted to vote in person right away.
"She said, 'No no no, I need to fill it out right now.' It was an odd situation, but she wanted to vote and that was her right as an American citizen."
Briceño González added: "She was very happy that she got to vote. I hope that the baby is safe, and she is safe, and that they're assured that their ballot was put in the ballot box and their vote will be counted."
Elections clerk Eileen Deliz said: "Maybe she wanted to come in-person at one point and that's why she was waiting, who knows. But she wouldn't go to the hospital until she voted.
"We are very, very busy, but when something like that happens it just makes our day. Every election cycle brings us a great little story."
...
The woman was later driven to an Orlando hospital to give birth.
Staff at the elections office said they planned to give the newborn a onesie emblazoned with the words "first vote."
Millions of Americans have already had their say in the US presidential election—either through early voting or mail-in ballots.
A study by the Pew Research Center released this month found that Donald Trump supporters are more than twice as likely than Joe Biden supporters to plan to cast their ballots in person on Election Day (50 percent versus 20 percent).
More than three-quarters (77 percent) of Biden supporters said they were very or somewhat confident that votes cast in person will be counted as voters intended, compared with fewer than half of Trump supporters (36 percent).
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