About 85 million American voters to be ignored in electoral cycles

Washington, Feb 19 (Prensa Latina) At least 85 million eligible poor or low-income voters in the United States are often overlooked in electoral cycles, as confirmed by groups at a time when uncertainty surrounds the upcoming November 5 elections and the issue of voter turnout will be key.

February 19, 2024
15:08

That is why there are organizations that warn about the need to pay more attention to this sector of society.

The Poor People’s Campaign launched a 40-week operation to catalyze the untapped power of poor voters nationwide.

Some 7,000 volunteers will seek to mobilize 15 million “infrequent” voters in the run-up to the November 5 presidential election.

According to recent publications, the first major coordinated voter registration events will take place on March 2 in front of 30 state legislatures.

The Poor People’s Campaign warned that if this large force were to go to the polls at the same pace as those with higher incomes, they could sway elections in every state.

But most election campaigns (and candidates) still ignore this part of our society, as stressed by Truthout website.

“The widespread view -not very sensible- is that the poor do not care about voting,” warned Shailly Gupta Barnes, policy director of the Poor People’s Campaign, when insisting that “that’s simply not true.” For Campaign Co-Chair Bishop William J. Barber II, election-time political crusades do not speak to these people or address their issues.

“In our election cycles we sometimes have 15 or 20 debates for president. In 2020, not one of them, not even 15 minutes, was devoted to raising questions about how that particular party’s or politician’s policies would impact poor and low-income people,” William J. Barber II stated.

“Extremists have long blamed the poor and low-wage earners for the plight they find themselves in, while moderates have too often ignored the poor, appealing instead to the so-called middle class,” William J. Barber II noted.

He opined that now they have come to represent almost half of this country, making it clear that they will have “the power to determine and decide the 2024 elections and beyond”.

Quoted by the website, pollster Celinda Lake noted that sometimes a small increase in turnout could determine the outcome in a state.

She said that 40% of voters in Arizona have low wages, and in 2020 the margin of victory was only 0.03%. “You’d have to be a fool not to understand this,” she emphasized.

The Poor People’s Campaign and the Institute for Policy Studies found that there are intertwined issues in all 50 states that affect the underserved population such as systemic racism and devastation, among others.

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