Voter turnout is expected to be on the rise for what you've, no doubt, heard is the election of our lifetime ... and a non-partisan group called Patient Voting is making sure hospital patients don't get left out.

The group's founder, Kelly Wong, tells TMZ ... they've seen a huge influx in patients seeking help in casting ballots, and they're using the little-known emergency absentee ballot.

Here's how it works ... patients who are unexpectedly hospitalized without arrangements to vote by regular absentee ballot can request an emergency absentee ballot if they're unable to make it to the polls, or if it's too late to apply for regular absentee ballots.

It's pretty striking ... we're told about 200 people per day are reaching out to the organization for help, a 5-fold increase compared to the midterms. The obvious difference this year -- the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected 8 million Americans and counting.

Sadly, we're told some people who reached out for ballots and info died from COVID before casting a vote.

Then there's the case of a voter in Washington ... we're told they're hospitalized with COVID but their ballot is at home, and the volunteer org is assisting in helping the patient vote electronically so as not to infect others.