HHH Meets with Board of Elections

Above: Democracy NC organizer Adam Sotak, pictured with HHH members Rob Weigle and Angie Forde at the Board of Elections

The "voter" team of HHH recently met with Michael Dickerson, head of Mecklenburg County Board of Election and Jeanette Johnson, who oversees voter registration. We were expressing our concerns of homeless voter disenfranchisement that occurred in the November '07 election. When homeless voters went to vote early, there was confusion because many of the men were sleeping outside when they registered in September, but were staying in the Emergency Winter Shelter in November during voting season. This "change of address" led to the men's need to vote on a provisional ballot. In addition, non-registered homeless voters who attempted to utilize "same-day registration" ran into difficultly because they did not have a "residential address." After spending nearly three hours in the public library early voting area and countless phone calls to board of elections, the homeless voters who had the patience to wait (only about 1/2 the group) were allowed to register and vote on official ballots.

Our meeting with Dickerson and Johnson was quite helpful in educating us on how to avoid this situation in the future. Thank you Board of Elections for your commitment to ensuring everyone with the right to vote is able to vote.