Voter registration kiosks installed at University Hospital

University Hospital last month installed voter registration kiosks in a bid to increase civic participation among their patients.

“The kiosk allows both patients and visitors to hospitals to access an electronic portal that walks them through the process and prints out a registration application to send in,” Gov. Phil Murphy said during Friday’s COVID-19 briefing. “University Hospital, by the way, is the first hospital in New Jersey to do this, and I commend University Hospital President Dr. Shereef Elnahal and resident Dr. Robert Adrian for their efforts to bring VotER to New Jersey”

Elnahal was Murphy’s commissioner of health before he left the administration to take the University Hospital post.

The kiosks are part of a partnership between the health care facility and VotER, a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose mission is to encourage patients to register to vote.

As yet, University Hospital is the only facility in the state to receive, but the organization said other New Jersey health systems were “rapidly mobilizing” more than a dozen additional kiosks.

“As the organization notes, there is a direct connection between civic engagement and public health, and we all hope that this kiosk is another step to ensuring a healthy democracy,” Murphy said.