Free Republic

GUESS WHICH CANDIDATE WILL WIN THE HOMELESS VOTE Apparently Barack Obama can count on a newly empowered class of voter: the homeless. Michael Stoops, the executive director of the National Coalition of the Homeless says, "Low income and homeless people are more energized than I have ever seen before." Well ... they're that damned energized, tell them to go out and get a job! The mentality from those in the homeless industry is that if you are homeless you care more about who gets elected because your life depends on your ability to live the life of a parasite. A...

(SNIP) Among those following the campaign is Shera Greenwich, a mother of two living at a shelter run by the Henry St. Settlement in New York City. As she waits to move into a subsidized apartment, she says issues including economic security and obtaining quality healthcare are her focus, and she plans to vote Democratic. "I see so much change in the future if Obama is elected President," she said. "I think he can get America back on track." OBSTACLES TO VOTING Advocacy groups campaign each election season to get the homeless to register to vote, noting they often face...

PORTSMOUTH - When Tyler McGill decided to take a semester off from college this year, it was not to travel or make money or just have a break from the stresses of academic life. McGill’s time off will be spent visiting shelters and soup kitchens across Wisconsin to register low-income and homeless people to vote. The 21-year-old Rye resident’s endeavor is the first project for nonprofit group Radar International, which stands for "re-establishing accountability in democracy through action and research." Radar, formally incorporated a month ago, is the brainchild of McGill and fellow Connecticut College student Justin Kaufman. McGill said...

In an attempt to register homeless people for the November election, two local groups are capitalizing on the fact that you don't need a permanent address to register to vote in Texas. This week, SEARCH, a nonprofit organization that provides services to the homeless, and the League of Women Voters of the Houston Area sponsored registration drives targeted at the homeless. "It is pretty novel," said Sandy Reese-Kesseler, SEARCH's executive director. "The idea was not a big brainchild or a stroke of mental genius. It was a client-initiated endeavor." Reese-Kesseler said SEARCH's clients care about the same issues that are...

ASHINGTON, Aug. 13 - Having no home and no money should not exclude someone from voting, according to two national groups that are trying to register thousands of homeless people to vote in the presidential election."The message that the poor and homeless are voting is part of a bigger strategy to get the issues of the poor heard," said Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. On July 22, his group and the National Low Income Housing Coalition registered roughly 1,150 homeless people nationwide in a one-day drive in 16 states and the District of Columbia....

Homeless join forces to register their own voters By Kellyanne Mahoney, Globe Correspondent  |  August 1, 2004 Jim Cronin displayed the aplomb and charisma of an old-time ward boss as he cheerfully hobnobbed with the crowd gathered for the voter registration drive. When he took to the stump -- flanked by the mayor and former mayoral candidate Mel King -- the 65-year-old homeless man assumed the role of ambassador. ''Welcome to America!" Cronin belted out to the spirited assembly of newly registered voters, the majority of them homeless, too. At that July 22 Cast Your Vote! event, Cronin and a...