Today, November 4th, Is Election Day. Please Vote!
Jeff Foreman, Director of Policy
Care for the Homeless client leaders, including members of
our Consumer Advisory Board, recently completed a nonpartisan Voter
Registration Drive that signed up 254 new voters, all eligible to vote tomorrow.
That’s a CFH Voter Registration record. It breaks last year’s record setting
drive success.
Our client leaders have the satisfaction of having helped
people to register and some great memories from the effort. They registered
people with past criminal records who didn’t know they had the right to vote.
In New York anyone not currently incarcerated for a felony or on active parole
(people on probation have the right to vote) has the right to vote.
They also registered people who were homeless and thought
not having a regular permanent fixed address meant they couldn’t register. But
being poor or homeless certainly doesn’t mean you lose your right to vote.
At Care for the Homeless we believe poor policy choices
helped create the evil that is modern day homelessness and better policies can
help to end it. Today – Election Day – each of us who is registered to vote has
the opportunity to help determine who gets to set public policy going forward.
Journalists and commentators are predicting very low turnout
for this year’s election. That’s a shame
because we’ll be voting for the state legislators, members of Congress and
statewide officials who very much affect our lives and those of our families
and clients.
Please take the
opportunity to cast your vote and participate in democracy today. Regardless of who you vote for,
everyone should cherish and exercise their right to vote their own values and
have a say in our government and policies.
And if you aren’t registered but would be eligible to
register to vote, contact our Policy Office at policy@cfhnyc.org anytime for assistance in
getting registered.
