Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. Thursday, 04/24/08

[EFerrari]

Homeless, But Not Voteless
A program tries to make the homeless a meaningful political constituency.

by E. James Beale
Published: Apr 23, 2008

The Bridge House for Women, at Belmont Avenue and Monument Road, is a transitional housing facility for homeless women. You have to be substance-free to move in; for many of the residents, the lifestyle is a change. One of the current occupants is Anita Adams, a tall, shy woman with large, dark eyes and a bright nose ring. Last Tuesday, Anita voted. "It's been years since the last time," she says, unable to even recall her previous voting experience.

Anita is not the only voter living in transitional housing. For the past nine years, local advocacy group Project H.O.M.E. has headed up the Vote for Homes coalition (VFH) — 61 local sponsors who work to bring out the homeless vote. The idea is to make the homeless a political constituency to which politicians have to cater, and VFH has succeeded in registering more than 12,000 current and formerly homeless and ex-offenders. They estimate that about 3,000 of them have voted in each of the past two elections.

Throughout our "Politics Lost" series, City Paper has focused on neighborhoods where residents are disillusioned with politics. For some people without permanent homes, interestingly, disillusionment doesn't seem to be the problem.

"Most of the homeless are actually surprisingly politically aware," says George Smith, a formerly homeless vet volunteering for VFH.

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2008/04/24/homeless-but-not-voteless

Election Reform, Fraud and Related News. 04/24/08

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