How to register to vote in Massachusetts if you're homeless

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's politics newsletter, Mass. Politics. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here. 

How do you vote without a home address?

It’s a question Lyndia Downie gets a lot.

Downie is the president of Boston’s largest homeless shelter, Pine Street Inn. And she says it’s a common misconception among the South End shelter’s guests that they’re unable to vote without a permanent address to put on the registration form.

But a physical home isn’t a requirement to vote.

Last week, the Pine Street Inn hosted a voter registration drive to clear up the rules for shelter guests and make sure they’re able to cast ballots this fall. Downie says it’s a tradition they started about two decades ago.

“Massachusetts is a state that has made it easy for people to register and tried to move away as many barriers as possible,” she told WBUR’s Cici Yongshi Yu. “We wanted to get that message across to our guests.”

State officials say voters should use a “primary residence” — often where one sleeps or continually returns to — to register.

For those experiencing homelessness, that can simply be their shelter address, meaning they can vote at the corresponding local polling location or get a mail-in ballot sent to them there. Downie noted many guests already use Pine Street Inn’s address to get mail.

While most of the Boston area’s homeless population is sheltered, unsheltered residents have options, too. The state says a “primary residence” can also be a friend’s home, a hotel or even a park or bench.

“Voters without a traditional address can draw the location of their primary residence on the map provided on the registration form and the local election office will assign them with an address to use for voting purposes in the appropriate precinct,” Deb O’Malley, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Bill Galvin, said in an email.

Still, the rules can be confusing, according to Downie.

According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, only 10% of people experiencing homelessness typically turn out to vote (compared to 50% to 66% of the overall population in presidential election years). According to a report by Boston Indicators, there were over 12,600 homeless people in Greater Boston last year.

The Pine Street Inn registered about 50 people to vote during last week’s drive. It also featured what Downie said turned out to be a robust Q&A about this year’s ballot questions with the League of Women Voters.

“People sometimes think when people become homeless, they leave everything else behind,” she said. “For some people, this is just a very short period of time on their life journey. For other people, it’s longer, but you don’t lose yourself. You don’t lose your interests. You don’t lose your desire to be part of a broader civic society.”