How Homeless People Can Vote in Los Angeles County and Across California

Latinos, women and independents are among the voting blocs often discussed during elections

One woman told the NBC4 I-Team it’s time to consider the homeless, a group she was once a part of.

The latest count revealed that more than 75,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County, and many of them may not realize they can register to vote, including at county shelters and online.

“The main thing I feel for any homeless person is that you have to learn to speak, you know? This is why we are invisible, because many of us tend to be so embarrassed that we don’t want to ask for help,” said Judge Butler.

The 65-year-old former radio disc jockey says she has been homeless at various points in her life, from her hometown of Houston to Los Angeles. She now lives in a studio near McArthur Park.

One thing that never waned was his desire to be part of the voting process.

“It means so much every year because it’s the first time I vote and I get teary-eyed because of the people in front of me, and I really learned to connect with my story,” Butler said. “They died and fought for that right to vote.”

Butler registered to vote while in a Los Angeles shelter.

“When I went to the shelter in Skid Row, they gave me all this paperwork to fill out, and one of them was a voter registration card,” she said.

Your story is not unique.

California law allows a homeless or homeless voter to participate in the election, said Dean Logan, who oversees the Los Angeles County Registrar/Clerk Clerk.

“They can register to vote, they can list the cross street where they spend most of their time, where they lay their head down at night,” Logan said.

“They can list the shelter where they are staying for resident purposes, which ensures they get the most localized and effective voting for them,” he added.

Logan told the NBC4 I-Team that there are currently about 800 voters registered at an intersection address and then another approximately 5,500 voters who have registered at a shelter, church or similar location that provides services.

Then there’s the fact that every active registered voter in California receives a vote by mail.

“So you can list a mailing address. Many of these voters may even list a Department of Social Services address where they are receiving information about their benefits or they may use a shelter address or a P.O. box to receive voting materials, – Logan said.

He says the fail-safe method remains in-person voting centers, including mobile ones that the county sends to different neighborhoods.

“We also use this program to go to homeless encampments that are in North County or in Long Beach or areas like that, to make sure that we have access for those voters,” he said.

The need goes beyond the homeless population.

“This is a particular issue in these elections because we know that there is a group of citizens who, through the end of rent control after the pandemic, have been displaced from their homes and may not receive their voting materials because they are trying to find a new home or a new place to stay,” Logan said.

Butler says she is battling a debilitating lung disease and is focused on issues that are important to her this election.

“It’s about someone having health insurance,” she said.

His message to others, no matter where they live, is to vote.

“We have to go out and vote,” she said. “This time, we have to get out and vote, guys, seriously.”

Mail-in ballots were sent by mail. Some of the dozens of in-person voting centers in Los Angeles County will open 11 days before Election Day and people will be able to vote at any location, even registering on site.