Voter Engagement
You Don’t Need a Home to Vote!
An essential aspect of the National HCH Council’s mission is empowerment. Persons experiencing homelessness have been disempowered in many ways, including at the ballot box.
It is consistent with our roles as service providers and advocates to encourage and facilitate voter registration, education, and engagement. It is entirely legal and in fact encouraged in law for nonprofits to register historically disenfranchised groups.
National Voter Registration Day. Be sure to organize voter registration and education events within your organization!
National Early Vote Day. Work with your community to create opportunities to get people experiencing homelessness to polling locations or returning their mail ballots on this day.
Voter Registration
Register Staff and Clients to Vote: Vot-ER is a web portal to help people determine their registration status, register to vote, or request a mail-in ballot from their state.
NHCHC has a specialized link for our community to share widely with colleagues and clients. We recommend HCH staff add a line to their email signature “Participating in our democracy is critical to our individual and communal well-being. Check to see if you are registered, register to vote, or request a mail-in ballot in your state here.”
You can also download resources for staff (badges with QR codes (back) or phone lock screen with QR code) or encourage people to text “Vote NHCHC” to 34444 to begin the process.
For questions about Vot-ER or voting for people experiencing homelessness, please reach out to Laura Brennan, Senior Policy Manager at lbrennan@nhchc.org.
Additional Voter Registration Resources:
United States Election Commission Assistance: National Mail Voter Registration Form
The National Mail Voter Registration Form can be used to register U.S. citizens to vote, to update registration information due to a change of name, make a change of address or to register with a political party.
The work doesn’t stop with voter registration – nonprofits are also able and encouraged to participate in “Get Out the Vote” Campaigns that help provide information about voting on election day and assisting in getting people to the polls.
Candidate Engagement:
During elections, it is important to learn about the candidates and see what they all have to say on issues related to housing and health care.
Additional Resources:
Additional resources on voter information by state