海角破解版

By Malcolm Burnley and Rachel Dissell, The Fuller Project 

Lynn Rodemann walked up the driveway, a mask fixed tightly to her face. 

A mother of five welcomed her into the backyard, where she was cleaning up the colorful, damp decorations from a child鈥檚 birthday party the evening before. 

Rodemann, a community outreach specialist, is part of a pandemic response team traversing Cleveland鈥檚 Slavic Village neighborhood to check on residents and offer information on a rent assistance program 鈥� and an application to vote by mail in the upcoming November presidential election. 

Working the overnight shift as a corrections officer at a women鈥檚 prison during a pandemic, coupled with limited child care options is a daily struggle, the woman told Rodemann. 

鈥淵ou could see how tired she was,鈥� said Rodemann, who broke social distancing protocol to give the woman, who started to cry, a hug. 鈥淚 was so devastated for her.鈥�

After that encounter, she wondered how a mom like the one she had met could have any energy left to worry about voting. A few days later, Rodemann returned to the home with a care package: masks, alcohol wipes and a thermometer. 

Lynn Rodemann, 39, stands in front of a mural created by local artist Scott Pickering on E. 55th and Fleet Avenue in Slavic Village. [Autumn Bland]

鈥淚f there's a possibility that they're losing their house, they don鈥檛 give a shit about voting,鈥� said 39-year-old Rodemann, who has worked for in the historic but under-resourced neighborhood for six years. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e worried about keeping a roof over their head and still eating,鈥� she said.

And just as fears of evictions remain in this community 10 minutes south of Downtown Cleveland, it鈥檚 a concern facing thousands of Americans nationwide.

Policy experts predict an 鈥� 鈥� of evictions to hit low-income renters across the country this fall. Women are expected to be the majority of the at risk of eviction by year鈥檚 end, according to findings from the Aspen Institute. If income-insecure women face losing their homes 鈥� and access to a stable address to receive voting registration, ballots, applications, and critical change-of-address forms 鈥� it could impact how many of them vote in the upcoming presidential election, experts say, adding this could also have a significant impact on the outcome of the November election.

鈥淭hese aren鈥檛 issues that people look at together, but they should be looking at together,鈥� said Shailly Gupta Barnes, policy director for the Poor People鈥檚 Campaign and the Kairos Center. 

found neighborhoods with higher evictions had lower voter turnout than the rest of the city, including other low-income neighborhoods. In Slavic Village, the worry is that voter turnout, which hasn鈥檛 rebounded from the last housing crisis more than a decade ago, could get worse. In 2016, only 38.5 percent of eligible voters there cast ballots, the

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have allotted $18.1 million in federal CARES Act and Community Development Block Grant funds to help renters. As she goes door-to-door, Rodemann and others spread the word about the rental assistance program, administered by CHN Housing Partners, a housing nonprofit, which can cover rent for up to three months. 

Energizing people to vote in a community like Slavic Village could prove difficult. The same has been true for encouraging people to fill out the U.S. Census.

The neighborhood has followed the pattern of other industrial and urban communities: a booming population at the start of the century, then deindustrialization post World War II, urban flight and declining populations, . By the Great Recession, the 5-square-mile neighborhood had more foreclosures in its 44105 ZIP code during the spring and summer of 2007 in the United States. The housing market, then in crisis across the country, was devastated in Slavic Village. As it continues its climb to recovery, the community again staves off another wave of housing displacement wrought by COVID-19.

Now get-out-the-vote efforts are more difficult as coronavirus cases top 5 million in the United States and nearly 4,500 in Cleveland. That鈥檚 why a vote-by-mail application is included in the same packet alongside rent payment assistance information that Rodemann hands out. 

Organizers are also helping voters navigate Ohio鈥檚 ballot request process through smaller hands-on events at places like Daisy鈥檚 Ice Cream on Fleet Avenue and Neighborhood Pets, a local pet food pantry and resource center.

Women have consistently outpaced men in voter turnout across racial groups and education levels . And because women, as a voting bloc, have historically leaned toward Democratic party candidates, evictions could mean a partisan impact.

In 2016, then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton led among women voters by compared to President Donald Trump. That gap has widened in 2020, putting former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of Trump by among women voters, according to recent polling.  

For now, the anticipated surge in evictions hasn鈥檛 manifested. In July, there were 423 eviction filings in Cleveland, But there鈥檚 reason to believe the data doesn鈥檛 yet reflect the situation to come.

The national moratorium on evictions 鈥� a 120-day freeze that applied to many renters and was part of the CARES Act 鈥� was lifted in July. On Aug. 11, Trump said, 鈥淲e are stopping evictions. We're not going to let that happen.鈥�  But the president鈥檚 those comments days later. 

Meanwhile, Congress has been unable to agree on further relief for keeping people in their homes, despite the success of CARES Act protections. 

鈥淓viction and voting don't go real well together. It becomes a form of voter suppression,鈥� said Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

In the months leading up to the election, community groups in Cleveland have stepped in to register voters and recruit poll workers, canvassed door-to-door while passing out supplies like masks, bandanas and hand sanitizer.

One of those groups is Cleveland VOTES, a nonpartisan organization founded by two Black women. The group aims to get low-income residents involved in the democratic process, in tandem with the board of elections. As of Aug. 17, the Cuyahoga County elections board had received more than 40,000 vote-by-mail applications.

鈥淚 know that people are getting the message, I know that more people are applying for vote-by-mail,鈥� said Jennifer Lumpkin, civic engagement strategist for Cleveland VOTES. 

In this year鈥檚 primary election, Ohio voter turnout was down close to 45 percent compared to 2016, according to a That was the steepest four-year dip of any state. 

The decline has been attributed to a confluence of factors, including fear of the virus, conflicting information about when and how to vote, slowed mail delivery and primary races that were less competitive than in 2016. Another factor was the two-step process to vote by mail, or absentee, in Ohio. Voters have to fill out and return a paper ballot application to their local board of elections before getting a ballot to cast.

Early and in-person voting will still be offered, though the state is limiting secure ballot drop boxes to one in each of the state鈥檚 88 counties. Given health and safety concerns, particularly in the city鈥檚 Black community hit by COVID-19 infections and deaths, groups like are emphasizing mail-in ballots.

When it works properly, voting by mail can actually help to overcome some of the gendered barriers 鈥� like lack of transportation 鈥� that interfere with women鈥檚 votes, Lumpkin said. 

That aligns with Rodemann's conversations with women in Slavic Village.

鈥淵ou can talk about voting and say, 鈥業 also want your voice to be heard. I want you to be counted,鈥欌�� Rodemann said. 鈥淔olks who don't feel like they have a voice or they feel unheard, they feel unseen, then they don't participate.鈥�

This story was originally published by a nonprofit newsroom reporting on issues that affect women.

Fuller Project reporter Jessica Washington contributed to this story. Malcolm Burnley is a journalist with The Fuller Project. Rachel Dissell is a contributing journalist with The Fuller Project.