SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At the Loaves & Fishes Friendship Park Thursday morning, homeless individuals had the chance to make their voices heard ahead of the midterm election at a voter registration drive from Sacramento County.
"I wouldn't say that there's a single person that we've talked to today that knew that they had the right to vote," said Janna Haynes, spokesperson for Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections. "Homeless does not mean voteless."
In Sacramento County, there are roughly 9,200 homeless residents but only around 550 of them are registered to vote, according to Haynes. Voter registration staff are hoping to boost those numbers through outreach and events.
"Arguably, especially for this election, there are several measures on the ballot that will impact them personally, and we really want people to have the opportunity to weigh in on issues that impact their daily lives," Haynes said.
Anyone that's experiencing homelessness can use a shelter address, a street corner, a park or an intersection to become a registered voter.
"If you want something to happen, you need to talk and you need to let your voice be heard. Like they said, closed mouths gets no reaction," said unhoused resident Donald Miller.
At the age of 32, unhoused resident Scott Weiss decided to register for the first time in his life and told ABC10 he hopes his vote will make a difference.
"It was actually very nice to actually, maybe, get our voices heard as being homeless," Weiss said. "There's a few props on there that I noticed that I'm like 'Ok, yeah, I'll vote no on this or I'll vote yes on this.' Hopefully, we get something done and something heard."
Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections will host another voter registration event for the unhoused at Loaves & Fishes next Thursday from 7 - 11 a.m.
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