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More homeless people expected to vote this fall
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Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Jul 29, 2008 10:46pm |
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Category | News |
Media | Website - Yahoo News |
News Date | Wednesday, July 30, 2008 04:45:00 AM UTC0:0 |
Description | Among the record number of voters expected to cast ballots this fall may be an increase from an often-invisible population — the homeless.
Advocacy groups and shelters across the country have stepped up efforts to register the 3.5 million people who drift in and out of homelessness in the United States.
"Just because we're homeless or low income doesn't mean we don't have an opinion," said Estelle Bearcub, who plans to vote for Barack Obama. "It's our right to vote. And it's our right to have our opinion count, too."
The homeless have sometimes struggled to participate in the political process, in large part because of requirements in Washington and 39 other states that voters list a mailing address.
Volunteers encourage transient voters to use the address of the shelter or soup kitchen they frequent in order to receive an absentee ballot. In states that require a physical address, voters can list a park or intersection where they sleep.
Bearcub has an absentee ballot delivered to the soup kitchen where she eats lunch most every day.
"It works pretty well," she said, standing outside Bremerton's Salvation Army post, where a banner announcing a voter registration drive flapped in the breeze. "They keep it real safe. We've never had any problems."
Inside the Salvation Army, volunteer Walter Washington acknowledged that some homeless people don't care about politics.
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