Pregnant woman in labour stops to vote on way to hospital to give birth
A pregnant woman in labour refused to go to the hospital until she finished filling out her ballot for the presidential election.
According to local officials, the unidentified woman from Florida had already gone into labour when she arrived at Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office in Orlando Tuesday.
The moment of her arrival was unforgettable, according to poll worker Karen Brinceno Gonzalez, who told Fox35 that the woman had made her husband stop at the polling station on their way to the Winnie Palmer Hospital, which is just four miles away.
When it was his turn in line, the man handed Gonzalez two licenses, and told her that he had already voted but that he needed help getting his wife to vote.
“'I already voted. I don't need to vote. My wife needs to vote!' [he said]. I said: 'Where's your wife?' He said: 'In the car.' I said: 'We need her here [inside],” Gonzalez explained.
However, after the man explained the situation more clearly - that his pregnant wife was in the car in labour and would not go to the hospital until she had cast her vote - Gonzalez proceeded out to the couple’s car.
According to the poll worker, at first she attempted to give the expectant mother a mail-in ballot and explained to her that she would need to send it in before 3 November, but the woman was adamant that she was voting then and in person.
“She said: 'No! No! No! I need to fill it out right now.' So she filled it out. I gave her her ‘I Voted’ sticker and she was off to the hospital,” Gonzalez recalled, adding that the woman was doing deep breathes as she filled out the ballot.
“I take pride in my work and I just wanted to make sure that she voted and she exercised her right before she went to the hospital,” she said.
And despite being a very busy day at the polling station, elections clerk Eileen Deliz told the Orlando Sentinel "when something like that happens it just makes our day.
“It kind of validates what we do [and] the importance of voting. Every election cycle brings us a great little story.”
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