Homeless, not voteless

Early Tuesday, Miriam's Kitchen bustled with dozens of homeless men waiting in line for a hot breakfast and, on this historic day, a chance to vote.

Thanks to the efforts of 25 dedicated Georgetown University law students, nearly 300 homeless people in the Foggy Bottom soup kitchen and at other locations around Washington registered to vote in the election and got help going to the polls.

Luis Rodriguez, 24, one of the law students and a volunteer at Miriam's Kitchen, said his group, Georgetown Outreach, began working in September to register homeless voters.

For Rodriguez, a Los Angeles native, homeless advocacy has become a passion.

"I just feel a lot of satisfaction from knowing that the constitutional rights of homeless individuals are being protected today," Rodriguez said.

Teaming with advocacy groups like the National Coalition for the Homeless, and five homeless service providers throughout Washington, the program began with voter education to make the homeless aware of their rights.

Following up on the registration, the law students took to the streets on Tuesday to rally the homeless voters and help them navigate polling places in the event they had any problems casting their ballots.

According to Rodriguez and Scott Schenkelberg, executive director of Miriam's Kitchen, homeless people are often faced with obstacles to voting. These barriers may include questions about documentation for registration, identification at the polls, and transportation to the correct polling location.

"It's really important to get everybody involved in the vote, and feel that everybody has a role and a voice in this process," said volunteer Tally Pucher, ".particularly for people who are disenfranchised in so many ways because they don't have housing and are living kind of day-to-day. It's really important for them to feel invested in the political process."

By 9 a.m., at Miriam's Kitchen, Pucher and Rodriguez had helped about 20 homeless voters walk across 24th Street to their polling location at St. Mary's Court.

Outside the soup kitchen, patron George Williams prepared to cast his ballot for Obama.

While Williams said he has waited for 47 years to vote for a black candidate, he expressed disappointment with both Barack Obama and John McCain for not talking about homeless issues during their campaigns.

"If Barack Obama or John McCain had any plans for the homeless they should have mentioned it in the debates," Williams said. "There are millions of us out of homes now; nobody mentions the homeless. Are we just nothing?"

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• election
• voting
• homeless
• president
• Obama
• McCain
• volunteers
• polls
• news
• politics

[idgirl97]

Nobody cares about you. shut up.

The homeless aught to vote. It's the system that has screwed THEM over the most.

And if you don't like Obama, you're welcome to leave... because he IS gunna be your president, fool.

[oilhammer04]

America is already know as a place where the poor are fat. Obama wants to take us farther to the left. We just had the largest two day drop in the stock market since 1987. I guess those who have money got the message and are pulling out. Where they will go with their money, I don't know, but it is a response that says a lot about having a new President who knows only Maxist economics. Is that an oxymoron?