New Legislation to Expand SRO Residents' Voting Rights

New Legislation to Expand SRO Residents' Voting Rights There are over 500 single residence occupancy (SRO) hotels in San Francisco, and these residential hotels house over 30,000 people. Most SRO residents are low-income, and many are minorities, seniors, and people with disabilities. In spite of being directly affected by the public policy choices of our City government, these residents are registered to vote at a lower rate than the general population. In several recent elections some SROs have denied access to campaign workers doing "get out the vote" activities such as distributing handbills and door hangers.Supervisor Mirkarimi has introduced two new laws to address the voting rights of SRO dwellers. First, he has introduced an ordinance that would allow occupants and guests to bring in campaign workers doing "get out the votes" activities. These workers would be allowed access on the same basis as other visitors through an amendment to the current City law on required goals for SRO visitation policies.Also, Supervisor Mirkarimi has introduced a resolution that addresses problems faced by the Department of Elections in accessing SROs for the purposes of voter education and registration. Currently, the Department faces difficulty in gaining entry to SROs, and the residents are thereby denied the benefits of this outreach. The resolution urges SRO managers and owners to allow access to the Department and also urges the Department to increase voter education and registration activities directly targeting SRO residents.These proposed new laws have been assigned to the Rules Committee of the Board of Supervisors, and this Committee will hold a hearing to consider them in approximately one month. A BeyondChron article on these proposals can be viewed here.