Kenza rocks.

Encouraging People Experiencing Homelessness to Engage in the Election Process

People experiencing homelessness, and all disadvantaged people, have a lot at stake, and so much to gain by learning about the political process and by making their voices heard.

Your agency can help them make their voices heard on Election Day and thereafter by creating an environment where elected officials can be held accountable to their demands.

Your agency can help them generate their own change.

There are many things direct service providers can do to prior to and on Election Day to ensure that people experiencing homelessness have an opportunity to participate in the electoral process?

• Work with your clients to fill out a Minnesota Voter Registration Application. These can be acquired from county courthouses, city halls, or by downloading a copy from the Secretary of the State. Please note that applications must be turned in at least 20 days prior to the election (that’s Oct. 14th) if the individual wants to vote in this year’s general election.
• Help your client’s identify where their polling place is. Polling places are designed to be relatively close to one’s place of residency. To find out where your client is supposed to vote, visit the Minnesota Secretary of State, the League of Women Voters, or your country auditor or city clerk.
• In addition to pre-registering, individuals wishing to vote in 2008, may register at their polling place on the day of the election. There are a variety of ways an individual may register, including employee vouching for residents of certain facilities (e.g. emergency shelter, transitional housing) or having a pre-registered voter vouch.
• Inform any ex-felons that they may have the right to vote in Minnesota. If your client has completed the terms of his/her sentence, including parole, his/her civil rights are automatically reinstated and thus he/she automatically becomes eligible to vote. If your client is unsure of his/her status, have him/her get in contact with his/her parole officer.
• Minnesota passed a law to protect the privacy of survivors of domestic violence who want to vote. If an individual needs to keep his or her address confidential, the safest way to vote is to register and vote by enrolling in the Safe at Home program, which utilizes a mail forwarding service.

If liberty and equality, as is thought by some are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in the government to the utmost.
–Aristotle