Finding their voice by casting their vote
Groups lead Tenderloin’s homeless to the polls
When Tony Page went to San Francisco City Hall to deliver his mail-in ballot for the midterm elections, he was taking part in the most basic form of political participation.
But while he could mostly blend in with other voters in the basement polling center, the 41-year-old Page is different in one respect: He’s been living on the streets for months.
“I think a lot of people feel like they don’t have a voice,” Page said. “I figure, I need to do the opposite of that. I need to find some hope.”
Page arrived at the polls with a group of Tenderloin residents who marched from the neighborhood’s Boeddeker Park to City Hall to vote. Skywatchers, a performance art group for Tenderloin residents, organized the procession with Glide Memorial United Methodist Church’s nonprofit arm to encourage community members to cast their ballots and “speak their truth on the issues which affect them most.”
“It’s about inspiring people,” Page said. “It felt good.”
Page arrived in San Francisco seven months ago after leaving Seattle and an abusive partner. He spent time on the 311 Shelter List before getting a bed at the Dolores Street Community Services shelter in the Mission District, though he
still spends his days in the Tenderloin.
In August, Page began taking classes at Glide’s leadership academy, where he heard about the march to City Hall. Before then, he said, he wasn’t sure he would be eligible to vote.
Glide and Skywatchers’ joint project reflects a broader effort from advocacy groups to encourage political engagement among the city’s homeless population of more than 7,000 — often the centerpiece of political debate and propositions but consistently underrepresented among the electorate.
Page said most people he knows on the streets don’t cast ballots.
“A lot of people in my community, they don’t believe they have a voice,” he said. “A lot of us fear that ... our votes don’t matter.”
Depressed turnout is pervasive among lower-income groups. An August report from the nonprofit Public Policy Institute of California found that only 46 percent of eligible Californians who made less than $40,000 annually were registered to vote, almost 30 points below those who bring home $80,000 and above.
Nationally, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that just over 30 percent of people in families making $30,000 a year or less voted in the 2014 midterm elections.
“It’s not an accident that they’re turning out at lower rates,” said Clara Pinsky, a program manager at Skywatchers. “The system has sort of beaten them back from showing up so many times.”
She added, “This is a historically disenfranchised community . ... That’s why we’re trying to do so much.”
In 1985, California courts removed a major legal barrier keeping homeless people from the polls, ruling that homeless people may register to vote at any location they identify as the place they spend most of their time. Officials may use public parks and street intersections as a substitute for a traditional residence to establish a voter’s precinct.
Still, advocates say, those living on the streets confront a series of hurdles on their path to the polls, starting with their own assumption that they need a roof over their heads to qualify.
“A lot of people think that because they don’t have an address that they can’t vote,” said Jesse Jackson, an organizer for Tenderloin Votes, a community association that promotes political engagement. “We have to convince people that, in fact, there are ways of getting around that.”
There are also practical obstacles for people who have to travel everywhere with their possessions in tow — even to a polling place.
“It’s really hard for someone who has to bring all of their belongings, their whole life, and bring it with them to come vote,” Pinsky said.
And day-to-day survival tends to be a greater priority than studying ballot measures or figuring out where to vote.
“Getting them involved in the political process is challenging,” said Joe Wilson, executive director of Hospitality House. The shelter hosts a year-round weekly political discussion group for people in the Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods.
“When you’re struggling to put food on the table ... a roof over your head ... those things have to take priority over everything else,” Wilson said.
But more insidious, advocates say, is a broader feeling of isolation among homeless people. “The feeling of not being a full person ... that conditioning to be like, ‘We don’t matter,’ it’s hard to overcome,” Ben Lintschinger of Glide said during the walk to City Hall.
Pushed to the edges of the political process, many in the homeless population have no electoral say on governmental programs that single out their community. This paradox is accentuated this year by Proposition C, the most contested measure on the San Francisco ballot, which would tax large companies to help pay for homeless programs.
Public debate over Prop. C has been dominated by a pair of billionaires — Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who says businesses have to help solve the city’s homelessness problem, and Twitter boss Jack Dorsey, who says the tax is unfairly skewed against financial outfits such as his small-business payments company Square. But Wilson said the people who show up at Tenderloin Votes’ weekly gatherings are intensely interested in it as well.
“It comes up a lot . ... People are really excited about it,” Wilson said. “I think people feel like there’s a real possibility that it will pass and there’s a real possibility that poor people will have a future in this city.”
Page hopes this will translate into political participation and votes.
“With our community, we’re at a time where we need to stand for something,” he said. “Our votes do count.”
“A lot of people think that because they don’t have an address that they can’t vote . ... We have to convince people that, in fact, there are ways of getting around that.” Jesse Jackson, Tenderloin Votes organizer