NATIONAL LAW CENTER ON HOMELESSNESS & POVERTY

Voter Registration for Homeless People: Legal Rights

This fact sheet provides basic information about the legal rights of homeless people seeking to register to vote in federal or state elections. The information provided is not intended to serve as legal advice. If you are considering taking steps to challenge election laws or practices in your state, you should consult an attorney or contact the National Law Center for further information.

Voter registration policies and practices may impose requirements that interfere with or preclude registration by people who are homeless, such as:

requiring a residential address;

requiring a mailing address;

requiring personal identification numbers or documents;

requiring compliance with registration deadlines; and/or

periodic "purging" of voter registration rolls.

Registration procedures for state and local elections and the state laws and regulations governing these procedures vary widely from state to state. Registration procedures for federal elections also vary from state to state. However, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) (also known as the "Motor-Voter" law) governs voter registration for federal elections. The NVRA requires states to make the voter registration process for federal elections more accessible to all citizens. Among other requirements, the NVRA mandates that states designate as voter registration agencies all state offices that provide either public assistance or state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to people with disabilities. With few exceptions, the Act applies to all states, though not all states have implemented it as required.

Residential Address Requirement

Homeless people who can identify a "home base"-- a specific location they consider their home base to which they return regularly and intend to remain for the present -- should not be denied the opportunity to register to vote solely because the home base is not a traditional dwelling. With respect to state elections, courts that have addressed the issue have held that states may not refuse to allow a homeless person to register to vote on the ground that they do not have a traditional residential address. As far as federal elections are concerned, the uniform "national mail voter registration form," which the NVRA requires states to accept as a means of registration, allows the applicant to draw a map to indicate where he or she lives "if the applicant lives in a rural district or has a non-traditional address." This means that homeless people who can identify a street corner, park bench, etc. as their home base by drawing a map should not be prevented from registering to vote for failing to provide a traditional residential address.

Mailing Address Requirement

Almost all states require prospective registrants to provide a mailing address. This requirement is not prohibited by the NVRA and it does not appear to have been tested in the courts. Whether or not a court will uphold a mailing address requirement is likely to depend on how rigidly the requirement is applied; a requirement that actually prevents homeless applicants from registering to vote is likely to constitute an unlawful restriction on the fundamental right to vote. Several states explicitly allow registrants to identify a government office or post office "general delivery" address, or other reliable "contact points" (e.g., a shelter, church, or municipal building) as a mailing address. If the mailing address requirement simply imposes a burden or inconvenience on the homeless applicant but does not actually prevent him or her from registering, such a requirement is likely to be upheld by the courts.

Personal Identification Requirement

Most states require prospective registrants to provide a personal identification number of some kind - usually a social security number or a driver's license number - to enable election officials to verify the person's identity. However, the practice of demanding a person's social security number has recently been called into question. Though one federal appeals court has ruled that a state's requirement that applicants provide a social security number is legally valid, in another case, a federal district court recently prohibited the state from requiring a social security number for purposes of registering to vote. Moreover, if the state requires production of some specific type of identification that an individual without a traditional residential address would be unable to obtain, such a requirement could likely be challenged successfully. In the case of federal elections, the NVRA prohibits states from imposing highly restrictive identification requirements; the national voter registration form "may require only such identifying information…and other information…as is necessary to enable the appropriate state election official to assess the eligibility of the applicant and to administer voter registration and other parts of the election process."

Registration Deadlines and Residency Duration Requirements

Almost all states have established a deadline prior to election day by which voter registration applications must be submitted - generally 30 days before the election. This requirement may present a problem for homeless individuals who move their home base to a different election district between the deadline for registration and the election. They will have missed the deadline for registering to vote in the new district, but will be unable to vote in the former district because they are no longer residents of that district. Nevertheless, it is likely to be very difficult to bring a successful challenge to a registration deadline that is set at or around 30 days prior to the election. The NVRA does provide protection for people who move their home base from one location to another within an election district, and requires that the registrant be permitted to vote at either the previously assigned polling place or a central location upon affirmation of the new address by the registrant, or at a new polling place upon confirmation of the new address.

Purging of Registration Lists and Mail Checks

Most states routinely remove or "purge" from lists of registered voters the names of individuals who are no longer residents of the election district in which they previously registered. This practice may present a practical obstacle for homeless people since names are typically removed when the registrant fails to respond to a "mail check" -- a notice sent by mail to which the registrant must respond in order to confirm their continued residence in the particular election district and prevent removal of their names. The NVRA offers some protection by limiting the circumstances under which failure to respond to a mail check may result in removal from the rolls, and by imposing certain conditions on mail check procedures.

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If your local election officials are imposing voter registration requirements that substantially hinder homeless people from registering to vote, you may wish to attempt to resolve the problem by contacting the chief election official in your state, the office of the State Attorney General, or a representative of your state legislature before considering commencement of an formal legal challenge.

For more detailed legal information concerning homeless people's right to register to vote, please contact the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty at (202) 638-2535.

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