WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: How Do Homeless Americans Vote?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from our archive. As of this publishing, the election cycle

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<v Speaker 1>is over for most Americans, of everyone who hasn't had

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<v Speaker 1>a race go into a runoff anyway. But issues of

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<v Speaker 1>how Americans access their right to vote are exactly what

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<v Speaker 1>we should keep talking about during the political off season,

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<v Speaker 1>especially how to expand access for underserved and underrepresented populations.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's why I wanted to run this particular episode.

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<v Speaker 1>It's about how voting works for unhoused people in this country.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. Voting is the cornerstone

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<v Speaker 1>of American democracy, but it can be a bit of

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<v Speaker 1>a pain. Election day in the US is always a

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<v Speaker 1>Tuesday's back in the middle of the work week. If

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<v Speaker 1>you move to a new spade or county, you need

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<v Speaker 1>to reregister and state voter I D requirements change all

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<v Speaker 1>the time, so you could possibly show up to a

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<v Speaker 1>polling station, wait in line, and still get turned away. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>imagine that you're homeless in America or unhoused, which is

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<v Speaker 1>an often preferred term because after all, home can mean

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of things. You might move around too frequently

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<v Speaker 1>to maintain a stable mailing address. You might have lost

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<v Speaker 1>your state issued I D let alone your Social Security

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<v Speaker 1>card and birth certificate. You might not be able to

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<v Speaker 1>afford transportation to the county elections office or your local

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<v Speaker 1>polling place. And frankly, you probably have a lot more

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<v Speaker 1>pressing problems than registering to vote. So while unhoused people

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<v Speaker 1>have every right to vote in US elections and have

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<v Speaker 1>a vested interest in influencing policy on housing and poverty,

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<v Speaker 1>the obstacles to successfully registering and voting while unhoused can

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<v Speaker 1>be insurmountable. First, there's the residents and mailing address issue. Interestingly,

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<v Speaker 1>of the fifty states requires that voters live in a

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<v Speaker 1>traditional residence. On voter registration forums, you can put a

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<v Speaker 1>shelter address, a street corner, a park bench. You can

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<v Speaker 1>even attach a hand drawn map, and that's fine for

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<v Speaker 1>establishing that you're a resident of the state and county.

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<v Speaker 1>But many states also required that you provide a mailing

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<v Speaker 1>address where you can actually receive mail. Again, that can

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<v Speaker 1>be a shelter or a friend or relative's house, but

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<v Speaker 1>it cannot be a p O box, and it can't

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<v Speaker 1>be a park bench. While it's easy for many Americans

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<v Speaker 1>to provide an alternate address where they could receive mail,

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<v Speaker 1>that's not always the case for people who don't have

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<v Speaker 1>a fixed residence and without a fixed address to receive

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<v Speaker 1>election notices from the county clerk's office, unhoused voters can

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<v Speaker 1>be wiped from voter registration roles. We spoke with Tristia Bauman,

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<v Speaker 1>senior attorney with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

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<v Speaker 1>She referenced to the laws that criminalize sleeping or camping

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<v Speaker 1>in public places and said it's important to remember that

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<v Speaker 1>homelessness is an inherently unstable state. Those laws have the

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<v Speaker 1>effect of displacing people from the areas where they normally

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<v Speaker 1>live and have connections. The lack of an address and

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<v Speaker 1>the lack of ability to stay in one location lawfully

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<v Speaker 1>conspire to make it ever more difficult for homeless people

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<v Speaker 1>to register to vote or vote by mail. Lack of

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<v Speaker 1>identification is another big challenge for unhoused voters, as there

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<v Speaker 1>are ten states was strict I D laws, meaning that

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<v Speaker 1>you cannot vote on election day without presenting some kind

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<v Speaker 1>of valid government issued identification. Another twenty four states had

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<v Speaker 1>non strict voter ID laws that allow voters without an

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<v Speaker 1>ID to sign an affidavit swearing to their identity. Even

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<v Speaker 1>in states without voter ID laws, first time voters registering

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<v Speaker 1>online or by mail are required to provide a driver's

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<v Speaker 1>license number or copies of a utility bill, bank statement,

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<v Speaker 1>or other document certifying their residency. If they fail to

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<v Speaker 1>provide identification during first time registration, they'll be asked to

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<v Speaker 1>show an i D on election day. While obtaining a

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<v Speaker 1>driver's license or state issued i D is free in

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<v Speaker 1>most states, that doesn't mean it's easy for an unhoused

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<v Speaker 1>person to jump through the administrative hoops to make it happen. Poor, elderly,

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<v Speaker 1>and unhoused people are far more likely to not have

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<v Speaker 1>a state issued i D, which is why voter i

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<v Speaker 1>D laws have been challenged as discriminatory. Then there's the

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<v Speaker 1>issue of safeguarding personal property. Even if an unhoused person

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<v Speaker 1>is lucky enough to have an IDEA in their possession,

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<v Speaker 1>there are many ways for those documents to get lost

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<v Speaker 1>or stolen, even at the hands of police. Ballman said

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<v Speaker 1>local governments often respond to illegal homeless encampments by coming

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<v Speaker 1>in and doing a clean up that results in the

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<v Speaker 1>seizure and destruction of a homeless person's property, you could

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<v Speaker 1>potentially lose your I D or your birth certificate or

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<v Speaker 1>Social Security card, or any of the other prerequisite items

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<v Speaker 1>that you need to register. The good news is that

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<v Speaker 1>advocacy groups like the National Coalition for the Homeless have

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<v Speaker 1>created resources like a Voting Rights Guide to help shelters,

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<v Speaker 1>drop in centers, food pantries, and other nonprofit groups organized

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<v Speaker 1>voter registration drives to help unhoused individuals register and get

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<v Speaker 1>to the polls. And despite the daunting bureaucratic hurdles facing

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<v Speaker 1>unhoused voters, there are a handful of states that specifically

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<v Speaker 1>offer exemptions for unhoused citizens, a trend that will hopefully continue.

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<v Speaker 1>In Indiana, for example, which is a strict photo I

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<v Speaker 1>D state, you can register and vote without an I

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<v Speaker 1>D if you claim indigence status, and in Oregon, unhoused

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<v Speaker 1>voters can use the county election offices address as their

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<v Speaker 1>mailing address. Today's episode is based on the article Homeless

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<v Speaker 1>Americans and Vote, but it Isn't easy on Housed to

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<v Speaker 1>works dot com, written by Dave rus. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>production of our Heart Radio in partnership with Houstuff works

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<v Speaker 1>dot com and it's produced by Tyler Klang. Form podcasts

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