Some absentee ballots requested by members of the local homeless community have not been received, despite being listed as sent out, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) said Monday.
About 150 people registered through NEOCH鈥檚 September voter drives, according to spokesperson Molly Martin. The organization has tried to track who on the list requested an absentee ballot, as well as whether they received it.
Some of those ballots haven鈥檛 yet made it to the voters, she said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to say how many specifically,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 always a chance the [motel] mailroom got the ballot and the person picked it up.鈥�
Martin has spoken with about 10 people whose ballots never arrived, she said. One of those voters is James Harrison, who registered to vote for the first time through a NEOCH event.
Harrison鈥檚 ballot was mailed out Oct. 12, he said, but he never received it.
鈥淚 never got it,鈥� Harrison said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if it came through the mail here or what.鈥�
Instead, Harrison said he made it to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to vote in person Friday, with NEOCH鈥檚 help. Harrison uses a walker and has a disability that makes it difficult to write, he said, but his in-person voting process was smooth. A shout-out even erupted for him.
鈥淪ince they found out I was a first-time voter, they just went to hollering and yelling and that kind of thing,鈥� Harrison said.
Harrison鈥檚 roommate in the temporary housing motel, Robert Hatchett, rode with him to the BOE to vote. Hatchett had requested an absentee ballot to be delivered to his former address, but is not sure it arrived after he entered the shelter.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think I was going to be able to vote, but we had some good friends that helped us to do it,鈥� Hatchett said.
Hatchett has voted in every election for years, he said, and was relieved to find there was still a method to participate after becoming homeless.
鈥淚 was so pleased that I was actually able to vote,鈥� he said.
With Ohio mail-in ballots required to be postmarked Nov. 2 to be counted, NEOCH is shifting its messaging to encourage voters to get to the polls in person if at all possible, Martin said, including partnering with initiatives like Voter Drive Cleveland to connect homeless voters with transportation.
鈥淏ecause there鈥檚 obviously been some uncertainty in anticipating the ballot in the mail and whether or not they could return it in time,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven beyond those folks who had registered or requested absentee ballots, we have really advertised the fact that early voting transportation is available for anyone there who wanted to go and vote.鈥�
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