Everyone needs to vote, if not now then in November. And moreover everyone needs to do research on their public officials. Because whether you love an individual, hate them or anywhere in between, there are only two major ways to hold them accountable. One of them is by speaking out; writing, going to city council meetings, drafting letters etc. And the other is by voting. If people paid attention to their public officials activities it would be a lot harder for them to do things that their constituents may not approve of (such as the shelter program.) This is applicable on both sides of the aisle, and on many different levels of politics. This sounds like common sense of course, but I am not completely sure that it is being followed.
I think that this is because in our culture, we don’t always like having to expend energy outside of our routine. Does anyone else remember high school elections for prom queen and king, student council etc.? I remember that come election time we would not know half of the names on the ballot. Mostly because it wasn’t a big concern for us, (we knew no matter who won the teachers would be in charge anyway) and because there was never a lot of information given to us about the “campaigns.” So what we would do, what I would do at least, was circle whichever names I found familiar, or just whichever one sounded cool. Those would usually be the ones that won. I don’t really think that high school election woes are necessarily a national crisis to make a large understatement.
But on a bigger level, I think we do the same things with political elections, we vote for the name we recognize. Sometimes the name we know is the better choice, sometimes it isn’t. But as a society we need to start making it a choice instead of just a ritual. Knowledge is a form of power, as is making decisions. We need to educate ourselves about the candidates and the political process. Furthermore we need people to start voting, and we need to make it so everyone can vote.
It is very hard for homeless people to register to vote, unless they are previously registered. As has been stated before many homeless people become so in the city of if not their origins, their years long homes. In order to register you need a valid mailing address. This makes voting extremely difficult (though not impossible) for people in shelters, and people who are transitioning, staying with their families or friends (I myself have this issue.)Obviously we do need a way to make sure potential voters are really from the district. But we need to revise it.
I assume that most people reading this article are allowed under our current laws to vote. I know that not everyone has a primary with multiple contenders today, But what about November? I am not saying who you should vote for, that needs to be each person’s choice, but I am saying that people need to make their voices heard.