Woman in labor stops to vote on her way to the hospital

A Florida woman in labor made a detour to vote early on the way to the hospital Tuesday before delivering her baby.

© Bonnie Cash
Woman in labor stops to vote on her way to the hospital

The woman’s husband approached poll worker Karen Brinceno Gonzalez at the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office in Orlando, Fla., with two diver’s licenses requesting assistance, according to a local Fox affiliate WTTG reported.

Gonzalez thought the man was requesting a designee ballot, but he quickly explained the situation regarding his pregnant wife, who was waiting outside in the car.

“He’s like ‘Yeah, she’s about to have a baby, but she won’t go to the hospital to have a baby until she votes.’ I was like, okay, what can I do to facilitate her to vote? Where is she? Where can I go to help?” Gonzalez recounted.

Gonzalez followed him outside, where she found the pregnant woman “doing her one, two breathing,” and began verifying her identity for the voting process.

“[I] Made sure she had all her ID by everything, gave her a vote by mail, and informed her it needed to be in by November 3rd by 7 p.m.,” Gonzalez said. “She said, ‘No! No! No! I need to fill it out right now.’ So she filled it out. I gave her [the] ‘I VOTED’ sticker and she was off to the hospital.”

Gonzalez said she was happy to help the couple, adding, “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.”

A spokesperson for the Orange County Supervisors of Elections said the woman was brought to a hospital less than four miles away from their office building.

News of the woman’s rushed quest to cast her ballot comes as polls show that former Vice President Joe Biden and President Trump are neck and neck in the Sunshine state. If the president does not win Florida, he will have an extremely difficult path to reelection this year.