James McWhorter was surprised in October when he received a letter in the mail informing him a DeKalb County resident had challenged his eligibility to vote because his listed address didn’t match the driver’s license he used to register back in 2008.
The 55-year-old barber and Army veteran, who lives in Stone Mountain, explained at a DeKalb County Board of Elections voter eligibility hearing that he was temporarily homeless 16 years ago and had used the address of the barbershop where he worked on his voter registration application.
The board of elections ultimately dismissed the challenge. At the time, McWhorter worried that what happened to him might discourage other unhoused people from participating in elections.
“They don’t have the means to get a lawyer to fight for their right to vote,” McWhorter said in October. “It can be very disparaging and intimidating.”
Now, he fears that a new elections law set to take effect in July could lead to more unhoused Black Georgians being kicked off the state’s voter registration rolls.
Senate Bill 189 makes it easier to challenge voters’ eligibility en masse based on claims about their place of residence, and adds requirements that could make it harder for unhoused people to access the ballot box.
The biggest impact will likely be in Atlanta, which experienced a 33% surge in its homeless population last year, with more than 2,600 people on the streets or in shelters. Nearly 83% of unhoused individuals identified early last year said they were Black, according to the latest homeless census conducted by Partners for HOME.
Critics, including McWhorter, contend SB 189 was designed to make it harder for homeless people to vote, while supporters argue it combats potential voter fraud.
New Georgia Project policy director Stephanie Ali said her voter engagement organization expects to see an increase in voter challenges against the unhoused. She expressed concern about how this population will navigate the logistics of voting under the new rules.
It’s common for homeless people to list their last permanent address on voter registration applications, but SB 189 mandates they use their county registrar’s office. It requires them to vote in that county even if they live elsewhere in the state.
“Unhoused folks who are used to going to a polling place [near] where they stay or where their shelter is would now instead have to go across town [to vote], across the county, to where their registrar’s office is,” Ali said. “That could mean all kinds of travel on [election] day.”
The law allows county residents to challenge the voter eligibility of people who vote or register to vote outside of the county where their address is listed, or have a homestead tax exemption on file outside the county where they’re registered. It also allows inconsistencies found in the National Change of Address database to be used as grounds for challenging a person’s voter eligibility
Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs said his group is preparing to sue the state over SB 189 for allegedly violating sections of the Voting Rights Act. Griggs said the Georgia NAACP, National Urban League, New Georgia Project, and Black Voters Matter are all involved in an effort to register unhoused voters by canvassing communities where they congregate, such as homeless shelters and correctional facilities.
“We believe it disenfranchises unhoused individuals who otherwise would be able to vote,” Griggs said. “The calculus a certain conservative group of lawmakers are trying to make is, because somebody’s poor, they shouldn’t be able to vote. That’s not how the system works in the United States of America.”
Griggs said the voting rights community is also encouraging unhoused people to participate in early voting.
“It reduces the ability to dissuade them [from voting],” he said. “If you are transitory within a county, you can still vote in the county. You just can’t vote in that precinct.”
“Do not let legislation intimidate you”
Passed by Republican lawmakers and signed in May by Gov. Brian Kemp, SB 189 is the most controversial of three new laws that critics say are a threat to voting rights.
House Bill 974 allows the public to access election ballots submitted by voters via the secretary of state’s website. HB 1207 mandates that election workers in Georgia be U.S. citizens. It also outlines protections for poll watchers and eliminates the requirement for polling places to maintain a ratio of one voting machine for every 250 voters.
While Republicans have been raising concerns about widespread voter fraud taking place in Georgia since the 2020 election cycle, GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said the vast majority of such fraud claims are “unfounded.”
Supporters of SB 189 say it’s necessary to prevent illegal voting by ensuring people actually live where they’re registered to vote. Georgia Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania, who sponsored SB 189, said in a May 8 press release that the law “is a testament to our commitment to restoring faith in Georgia’s elections.”
But McWhorter doesn’t buy that.
“It’s bullshit,” McWhorter said of SB 189. “It’s going to disenfranchise not just African American males, but minorities in general.”
McWhorter has endured many personal battles that threw his life off track and that made it harder to vote, but that hasn’t dampened his commitment to showing up at the polls.
He said his combat service during Operation Desert Storm left him suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder during the mid-1990s and drinking heavily to self-medicate. That led to three DUI charges and a felony conviction that resulted in prison time and in his voting rights being taken away.
McWhorter regained his rights in 2008 after completing his prison sentence and getting his life together. He said voting was a practice his late grandmother stressed due to all the evils members of their own family overcame for the right to vote.
“They endured water hoses. They endured dogs. They endured heinous things,” McWhorter said. “They endured stories that I heard of dragging her grandfather out and putting him on a tree just for the right to say, ‘I would like this individual to represent me in my local, my state or my national elections.’”
McWhorter advised other homeless people not to let anyone prevent them from voting.
“Do not let legislation intimidate you,” he said. “You count as individuals. Don’t think you don’t count.”
