73.7% of Ohio Nurses Were Registered. 7.3% Voted in All 3 Primaries.

Nearly three in four licensed nurses with Ohio addresses were registered to vote. Across three primary elections, turnout among nurses never rose above 22.4%, and only 7.3% voted in all three. Those numbers come from a study of public records in the October issue of AJN, and they describe one state and one kind of election. With a general election on Nov. 3, 2026, they raise a useful question about where the nursing voice shows up, and when.

What happened

Ruth Ludwick, Margarete Zalon, Kristin Baughman and Rebecca Patton published “Nurse Voting in Ohio Primary Elections: A Cohort Study” online on Sept. 24, 2026, in the October issue of the American Journal of Nursing. They looked at LPNs, RNs and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) in the Ohio primaries of 2020, 2022 and 2024.

The study measured recorded voting. The nurse data came from two public Ohio Board of Nursing lists, acquired in October 2023. Voter registration and voting records came from the Ohio Secretary of State’s website, obtained in July 2024. According to the abstract:

• 73.7% of licensed nurses with Ohio addresses were registered to vote.
• Nurse turnout in the three primaries ranged from 19.1% to 22.4%.
• 7.3% of nurses voted in all three primaries.
• Older nurses were significantly more likely to vote than younger nurses.
• Turnout differed significantly by license type in each election, with LPNs below RNs and APRNs.

The authors call the low turnout “a call to action for nurses to participate in policy.” We read the abstract, because the full text is paywalled. The abstract does not give the total number of nurses, the size of the age and license differences, or whether the turnout percentages count all licensed nurses or only those registered. It also makes no comparison with non-nurse voters, so it cannot tell us whether Ohio nurses vote more or less than their neighbors.

The primaries are only part of the picture. An earlier paper by the same authors, in Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice, covered Ohio’s November 2020, 2022 and 2023 general elections. Reporting on the 73.7% of nurses registered to vote, it found that 11% never voted in any of the three and 47.7% voted in all three. These are separate analyses of different elections, so they are not a direct comparison. They do show that the primary numbers should not be read as “nurses don’t vote.”

Why it matters at the bedside

The study did not measure patient outcomes or any policy result, so it cannot say that nurse turnout changes care. What it does show is a gap between being registered and showing up for one type of election, and that type matters. USA.gov explains that political parties use primaries and caucuses to choose candidates for president or Congress, and may use primaries for statewide or local offices. Formats and rules vary by state, but the names on a November ballot can reflect choices made at an earlier stage.

Nursing practice has a direct link to lawmaking. NCSBN notes that every state and territory legislated a nurse practice act, which establishes a board of nursing with authority to write administrative rules. Those rules must stay consistent with the act and cannot go beyond it. So the limits of what you may do on a shift start with a law written by a legislature.

What it means for nursing students and the NCLEX

Voting behavior is not what the licensing exam is after. The 2026 NCLEX-RN test plan does list providing care within the legal scope of practice, along with advocacy, in its Management of Care content. That advocacy is mostly about the person in the bed: discussing treatment options and respecting decisions. Policy advocacy is the same habit at a larger scale, and it is a good bridge between your leadership course and your license.

The study is also a clean example for your evidence-based practice class. Practice reading it the way you would read any paper:

• Measure: public voting records, reported by the authors as actual voting behavior.
• Analysis: chi-square tests and logistic regression, looking at age, license type and voting.
• Limits on inference: age and license type were related to turnout, but that does not show why. The abstract gives no reason younger nurses or LPNs voted less, and we won’t guess at one.
• Limits on reach: Ohio only, primaries only, 2020 to 2024. It does not describe nurses nationally.

What to do now

Nothing here is about whom to vote for. These steps are about being able to take part at all.

• Confirm your registration. Each state sets its own deadline, and it can fall as much as a month before an election. Your state or local election office can tell you where you stand and what options remain.
• Look up your polling place and hours and plan around your shift. Each state also sets its own voter ID rules, so check those before you go.
• Don’t count yourself out. USA.gov says you can vote in a general election even if you skipped the primary.
• Add your state’s next primary to your calendar. Find out whether your state’s primaries are open or closed, since that can affect who may vote in them.
• Read your own nurse practice act. Your board of nursing’s website is the place to start, and knowing it helps you connect what lawmakers do with what happens on your unit.