Election Day might bring another nasty surprise to foreclosure victims. More than a million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure in the last two years. And if they haven’t updated their address in their voter registration records, they could face a hard time at the polls. This New York Times article lays out what one can imagine is a highly typical scenario:

Todd Haupt, a home builder, lost his home in Josephville, Mo., to foreclosure last year, and said he had since become much more interested in politics. But asked whether he had remembered to update his voter registration information when he moved into his parents’ home in St. Charles, Mo., Mr. Haupt, 33, paused silently. Is that required? he said. I had no idea.

I’ve moved three times in the past two years, he added. Keeping my voter registration information was not top on my mind because I figured it was all set already.

Because foreclosure victims have grown in number considerably since the last election, they are a relatively new group in the electorate, and vulnerable because they have not been recognized thus far as a group needing help. Some of the problems they might face are fairly predictable. They never changed their voter registration to the new address, and will not find their names on the list at their new polling place, or will find that their names have been stricken from the rolls at their old polling place. They will be turned away or offered a provisional ballot, the validity of which will be determined by the laws in their state. Sorting out their problems will cause confusion and delays at the polls.

Yet, there is a more malevolent possibility advocates are worrying about as well:

Because many homeowners in foreclosure are black or poor, and are considered probable Democratic voters in many areas, the issue has begun to have political ramifications. Political parties have long challenged voters with expired registrations, but the possible use of foreclosure lists to remove people from the rolls though entirely legal has become a new partisan flashpoint.

Republicans deny any such strategy will be employed. In any case, foreclosure victims would be wise to update their registration before their state’s deadline, to avoid any sort of problems, of the benevolent or malevolent variety.

takepart confirm your registration!

Related:
As Homes Are Lost, Fears That Votes Will Be, Too

Maggie Bowman is a filmmaker living in Chicago who produced Election Day (Arts Engine/Big Mouth Films), a vérité documentary that follows a dozen American voters on November 2, 2004. She has worked on films about Haitian presidential elections, Catholic seminarians, American mothers, and Artic villagers. Prior to her work in film, Maggie was a union organizer and consultant for five years, working on campaigns with taxi drivers in the Bronx, nurses in Chicago, and home health aides in Brooklyn, among others. She likes taking walks through Chicago alleys.