If you want to register to vote ahead of Election Day, you need a mailing address and a home address – but you don’t need a home.
Utah allows voters to register with a nontraditional address, but the registration form requires a mailing address to receive a ballot.
“We do all of our representation geographically, so you need to have an address,” said Weber State University political science professor Leah Murray.
For those without a stable living situation, that could look like a barrier to voting. But it doesn’t have to be. A 2023 law established that someone without stable housing can use “a nontraditional location, including a location without a structure, as the individual's principal place of residence.” This could be a park or a homeless shelter.
At the Lantern House in Ogden, volunteers from the League of Women Voters of Weber County are helping guests and visitors register to vote.
Shellie Manzanares, who lives at Lantern House, uses a family member’s address as her residential and mailing address so her ballot “doesn’t get lost” at the shelter.
“If I don't vote, then I can't speak for my rights,” she said.
Fellow Lantern House guest Wendy Mayfield recently updated her voter registration. Even if an election doesn’t turn out how she would’ve liked, “at least I had a say in it.”
“It's really important to get out and vote” and be informed of your rights, she added.
As long as you are a U.S. citizen, over the age of 18 and have been a Utah resident for 30 days, you can vote. The only time you cannot vote in Utah is if you are incarcerated for a felony.
Lauren Shafer, elections director for Weber County, said that when a nontraditional home address is used, like a park or place along the river, her office inputs the nearest shelter as the voter’s home address with a note of where the individual spends the night.
If they have no mailing address or don’t want mail sent to a shelter, the elections office will also put the closest shelter as the mailing address but keep them on a do-not-mail list. The individual can then vote in person.
The precinct of the nearest shelter will determine which ballot they receive, which will include specific local races.
Shafer said the homeless voters she interacts with tend to vote in person. That includes some who register with Lantern House as their mailing address.
“We get a lot of returned ballots from the Lantern House, just no one filled them out. And those voters typically have come in and vote[d] in person at some point,” she said.
Voting in person requires a valid ID in Utah. Shafer noted that voters shouldn’t run into issues if the address on their ID doesn’t match the address used to register. The ID requirements for registered voters state the ID must be valid and have a voter’s name and photo. In a worst-case scenario, she said they would be able to vote provisionally.
Mayfield and Manzanares both plan to vote in person.
“I 100% believe that homeless[ness] should not stop anyone from voting whatsoever,” Manzanares said.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
