American Bar Association
Standing Committee on Election Law
Commission on Homelessness and Poverty
Hispanic National Bar Association
Section of Litigation
Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly
Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities
Adopted by the House of Delegates
August 1993
Recommendation
BE IT RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association supports efforts to insure the participation of homeless persons in the electoral process.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association recommends that federal, state, territorial and local election laws, regulations and policies regarding residency determinations and the methods by which persons vote and by which voter registration is verified should not hinder or prevent registration and voting by homeless persons who are otherwise qualified to vote.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association recommends, and supports legislation to assure, that no voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, standard, practice, or procedure, shall be imposed or applied by any state or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right to vote of any citizen who resides at or in a nontraditional abode, which shall be read to include among other things (1) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional
housing for the mentally ill); and (2) a public or private place not designated for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association encourages federal, state, territorial and local election officials to undertake active outreach efforts to inform homeless persons of voter registration and voting procedures.