Homelessness & The Presidential Election

Homelessness and The Presidential Election

In the last four Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, I was astonished that there was absolutely no discussion on homelessness in America. Even on the stump, the word “homelessness” has not been heard. I’m surprised, especially when this election is coming down to the wire, and every single American vote—at least in the “battleground states”—counts.

There are about one million Americans who are homeless. Can you imagine if they all voted? They could literally sway the Presidential election, and have an amazing impact in our “divided” country. Yet, the political gurus of each campaign would rather ignore this significant voting block, and go after the NASCAR dads or the seniors in Florida, than a group of people that our country has already forgotten.

A MSNBC cable news report broadcasted a segment on the Los Angeles Community Action Network’s (L.A. CAN) efforts to register homeless people in Los Angeles to vote. This was a terrific piece of journalistic reporting, that (I hope) opened the eyes of the average American. L.A. CAN has caught the vision.

Here at PATH, we will be one of the unique polling places where homeless or people who are already housed will stand next to each other in their tiny polling booth, and be able to vote for their President.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if a disenfranchised, neglected voting segment of our population could actually sway an election? I don’t now if that will become a reality, but I would at least hope that our political leaders would acknowledge a significant societal problem that affects at least one million people in our country.