Homeless Voters In Austin Texas

When I was investigating the 2020 Travis County election, I came across some interesting information. I couldn’t understand why so many people were voting in District 9 when many of the UT students were not physically back at school. This is when I came across the suspended voter files on the Travis county elections website. Suspended voters are voters that probably changed addresses or moved out of the city, but are still in the voter registration. This brings questions on its own, but I noticed something even crazier when I went through these files.

I noticed that there were tons of homeless being registered to vote. I noticed this because there were hundreds of individuals being registered to vote in a location that was not an apartment or residential building.

I’m not against homeless people voting, but I don’t trust one organization or location to do it honestly. Homeless people should be registered to vote and provided with their own address through whatever mechanism needed. They should not be registered to vote in one location with one P.O. box. Whoever owns or has access to that P.O. box can then manipulate that person’s mail and voting rights.

I’ve heard from people that work at one of these locations that these nonprofits collect all homeless people’s mail and sort it for them, but what happens if a person no longer checks their mail at one of these locations?

People worry about disenfranchising homeless people if they don't have "access" to -- (fill in the blank.) I think centralizing their mail and voting to one location is disenfranchising them. It gives that entity or nonprofit a lot of power over local city officials and over the homeless themselves. Would you question a person that has the ability to provide you with a permanent address for free? A place where you can receive checks from the government among other benefits. This also helps the city government out when it comes to the census. You allow homeless to be easily counted for the census if they have a "permanent" mailing address. More people for the census equals more federal dollars.

Additionally, the more voters that entity is able to register; the more power they can wield over local political officials.

Where are the locations that are registering homeless to vote?

I was able to find multiple locations where hundreds of homeless people were being registered to vote. They were primarily downtown, but there was another location in south Austin. If you know about more, please feel free to contact us at info@hugepatriot.com

Downtown Homeless Voters

precinct 329 homeless voters

500 E 7Th St - This is the infamous ARCH building downtown run by ECHO. ECHO is the City of Austin’s favorite nonprofit. They are also being used to run the homeless hotel empire that Adler and crew are building. There are 362 registrations at this location. According to Austin's city website there are only 130 beds at this location. How do they know when to suspend a voter at this location?

I charted the growth in registrations at Arch over time. It appears that the increase in registrations just happen to coincide with Adler’s tenure as Austin’s mayor.

arch voter registrations over time

304 E 7th St - This is the trinity center. They are a volunteer organization that grew from Episcopal parishioners. They are focused on providing resources to the homeless. There are 450 voters registered here. There are no beds for sleeping here.

501 E 8th St - This is the salvation army which is right behind the ARCH in downtown. There are 251 registrations in this location. There are 242 beds at this location.

Just in the downtown area alone, you have over 1,000 homeless citizens being registered to vote. This is all in precinct 329 of District 9. Kathie Tovo is the council member in charge of this district.

South Austin Homeless Voters

One location that I knew from personal experience that caters to the homeless was the Sunrise Church in South Austin. When I looked at the suspended voters map, it did not show voters here. It does show them in the voter registration though.

Voter registration missing from suspended voters file

The location is at 4430 Menchaca road. There are 176 voters registered to this location. Because of this church, there are tons of homeless camps in the area underneath highway 290. This church is located in District 5 and is in precinct 454. Ann Kitchen is the council member in charge of District 5.

I also charted the growth in registrations at this location. The growth is similar to the growth at Arch and increases over time with Adler's tenure.

sunrise church voter registrations over time

These are the homeless voter hubs that I was able to find. If you know of more, please email us with information at info@hugepatriot.com.

Can you vote if you are homeless?

Yes you can. Check out this website to learn more.