How the homeless can vote in Los Angeles County and across California

Latinos, women and independents are among the voting blocks often discussed during elections.

One woman tells the NBC4 I-Team it is time to consider the homeless, a group she was once a part of.

The last count found more than 75,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County and many of them may not realize that they can register to vote, including at county shelters and online.

"The main thing I feel for any homeless person, is you have to learn to become vocal, you know? That's why we are invisible, because a lot of us tend to be so embarrassed, we don't want to reach out for help," Justice Butler said. 

The 65-year-old former radio disc jockey says she found herself homeless at various times in her life, from her hometown of Houston to Los Angeles. She now lives in a studio apartment near McArthur Park.  

One thing that never waned was her desire to be part of the voting process. 

"It means a lot every year, because the first time I'm voting, and I'm teary-eyed because of the people before me, and I've really learned to connect to my history," Butler said. “They died and fought for this right to vote.”

Butler registered to vote while at a Los Angeles city shelter.  

"When I went into the shelter on Skid Row, they gave me all this paperwork to fill out, and one of it was a voter registration card," she said.  

Her story is not unique.  

California law allows an unhoused or homeless voter to participate in the election, said Dean Logan, who oversees the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.

“They can register to vote, they can list the cross street where they spend the most of their time, where they lay their head at night," Logan said. 

"They can list the shelter where they're staying for residents' purposes that ensures they get the most localized ballot that's effective for them," he added. 

Logan tells the NBC4 I-Team, currently there are about 800 voters registered with an intersection address and then another approximately 5,500 voters who registered with a shelter, a church or similar place that provides services. 

Still there is the fact that every active registered voter in California receives a vote by mail ballot. 

"So you can list a mailing address. So a lot of those voters may list even a Department of Social Services address where they're receiving information about their benefits or they can use a shelter address or a PO box to receive the voting materials," Logan said.   

He says the fail-safe method remains the in-person vote centers, including mobile ones that the county sends to different neighborhoods.  

"We utilize that program to also go to homelessness encampments that are in North County or out in Long Beach or areas like that to ensure that we have access for those voters," he said.  

The need goes beyond the homeless population.  

"This is a particular issue in this election because we know that there are a group of citizens who through the end of rent control after the pandemic have been displaced from their homes and may not receive their voting materials because they're dealing with trying to find a new home or a new place to stay," Logan said.  

Butler says she is battling a debilitating lung disease and is focused on issues that matter to her this election.  

"It's about somebody having a plan for healthcare," she said. 

Her message to others, no matter where they live is, is to vote.

"We got to go out to vote,” she said. “This time, we got to go out and vote, y'all, real.”

Vote by mail ballots have been mailed out.  Some of the dozens of in-person vote centers in Los Angeles County will open as soon as 11 days before election day and people can vote at any location, even registering on site.