Niya Kelly of the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness challenges common misconceptions about voting without a permanent address

By Gabriella Gladney

A polling site in Springfield, Ohio, on Nov. 3, 2020, with an inset portrait of Niya Kelly. (Photo: Talia Sprague/for City Bureau; portrait: Courtesy of Niya Kelly)

Voting is a fundamental right, yet for people experiencing homelessness, exercising that right can be filled with challenges. In Chicago, that means a reported 50,000 adults experiencing housing insecurity might struggle to have their voice heard. 

Advocacy groups such as the Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness are trying to dismantle these barriers, raise awareness and provide resources to ensure that people experiencing homelessness can participate in elections.

Niya Kelly, the organization’s director of state legislative policy, equity and transformation, works on many housing-related issues, such as homelessness prevention, permanent supportive housing and homeless youth. She spoke to City Bureau about the challenges of voting for people without stable housing and what efforts are underway to improve access to the ballot box for all. 

This article has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What are some challenges unhoused people might encounter when trying to register to vote?

The main barrier is documentation. What we often see is when people are living in encampments, when there are street cleanings or displacement of the people who are living in encampments, often police and sanitation come through and throw away people's things.

Some say, ‘Why aren't they gathering all of their things?’ A high percentage of people who experience homelessness also have jobs, and so even if they're living in an encampment, they may be leaving from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to go to work. So they come back and all of their documentation, their birth certificates, their other legal documents, have been thrown away in a sweep. 

Illinois is a progressive place in terms of voting laws, but it doesn't mean that everything is being done to support people who are experiencing homelessness being able to vote.

Why is it important that unhoused people have their voices represented?

Because they are members of the community. They are constituents. There is a direct correlation between the last presidency and the criminalization of people experiencing homelessness. We saw this with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson [in which the court ruled people can be penalized for living in public outdoor spaces]. 

What are some of the misconceptions that people have about unhoused individuals and voting?

People think if you're experiencing homelessness, you don’t have the right to vote. I think that [perspective is shared by] people who are both unhoused as well as people who are housed. People just think, ‘Well, how do you get to vote if you don't have a permanent address?’ But many states have answered that question, and Illinois is one of them. Experiencing homelessness does not mean you are not being permitted to vote.

If that's the way we want to [think] about it, that means we are talking about it as the founders of this country talked about it. You had to be a land-owning white man in order to vote. So if we [think] people who are experiencing homelessness don't have the right to vote, we are going back to the 1780s and saying that we want that as our guiding light.

So, if you are experiencing homelessness or you don't have a permanent address, how can you vote in the upcoming election?

In order to register to vote, if you're a new voter, you need two pieces of identification. If you're living at a shelter, if you're working with a drop-in center, if you're working with a provider, they are able to write a letter and say this person is permitted to use this address as their address they can vote from. Then you can bring that with you and that can serve as one piece of identification. 

For people who are experiencing homelessness, you do have access to free identification. That free ID can serve as a form of identification for you to be able to vote.

If you are in a position where you prefer to have your ballot mailed to where you're able to receive mail, feel free to do that. You can find a drop box where you can drop off your ballot or put it in the mail and ensure that it's delivered on Election Day, so it is counted. [Editor’s note: Ballots must be sent on or before Nov. 5 for voting by mail.]

Find more information on how to vote if you are experiencing homelessness at chicagohomeless.org/vote.