Homeless, Low-Income, and Ex-Offenders Voters Impact Election

Teams of volunteers will reach out to shelter residents, offering rides, voter protection, and other assistance. By registering in historic-high numbers, shelter residents have demonstrated that they will bring their issues – housing, employment, and social services – to the polls with them. Thousands of homeless and low-income voters have been registered and will get out to vote.

Philadelphia, PA – Seventy-five trained volunteers will fan out from Project H.O.M.E. across the City to reach registered voters in 250 shelters, soup kitchens, service agencies, health centers, and ex-offender organizations. Amid real concerns about voter intimidation and election fraud, teams of volunteers will tackle these issues throughout Election Day.

On Election Day, November 7th, the Vote for Homes Command Center will be dispatching teams to area shelters, responding to voter concerns, and providing rides to voters who have transportation needs. Reporters are welcome at 1515 Fairmount Avenue where they can interview voter mobilization teams and ride along to area shelters/

George Smith, a formerly homeless veteran who lives and works at Project H.O.M.E., is a voter mobilization volunteer working to assist other homeless voters on November 7. “The politicians always come around when they need your vote, but when you need them, they always have excuses why they cannot. This year, we’re all going to vote and they’re going to have to listen! Let’s then them what we need. Let’s tell them we need housing, we need jobs, and we need services!”

According to S. Mary Scullion, Executive Director of Project H.O.M.E., voting is important because it decides the issues that affect real lives. "We know that people who vote get services. People who vote get attention from political actors. As part of a national network of advocates, Project H.O.M.E. and the Vote for Homes! Coalition are proving that people who are homeless and living on low incomes DO vote and should have their voices heard. We are ensuring that the issues of affordable housing, jobs at livable wages, and adequate human and social services are part of the discourse in this election."

Wayne Jacobs of X-Offenders for Community Empowerment addressed people with justice system records – saying, “Ex-offenders will be voting on November 7th because their lives and their families’ lives depend on it. We will use that right to vote for better jobs and decent homes. We are voting against the economic and social apartied laws that prevent ex-offenders from re-integrating into society.” Persons with felony convictions are allowed to vote as soon as they have been released from prison. The 5-year waiting ban no longer exists.

Through the efforts of Vote for Homes! and Project H.O.M.E., 150 volunteers have participated in six specialized trainings, giving them the tools register voters, educate potential voters about the benefits of voting, combat voter apathy, and mobilize voters on Election Day. The Vote for Homes nonpartisan Voters Guide is available at www.projecthome.org/vote. There are approximately 900,000 potential voters in Philadelphia. Vote for Homes! registered 1,000 voters during this election cycle, and 9,500 voters since the start of this campaign in 1999. This collective voice – the approximately 25,000 homeless, 131,000 uninsured, and roughly one in 15 unemployed Philadelphians, combined with similar constituencies across the country – will help decide the direction of our state and country.