Vote!

Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz Guest Editorial “A Day to Celebrate Your Right to Vote” invites us to update our voter registration information on Tuesday, September 25, at Lafayette Park, 4th and Gaines in Davenport, 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

In his book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond writes, “Our cities have become unaffordable to our poorest families, and this problem is leaving a deep and jagged scar on our next generation.” The Princeton University Eviction Lab ranks Davenport’s 2016 eviction rate at 2.11 evictions per day - - the highest in the state of Iowa and 44th highest in the US. 

Remember this number 17 to 1.  In Scott County, there are 7,155 households earning $20,000.00 and less (11% of Scott County households).  For every 17 households there is only 1 affordable home.   The absence of a living wage and the shortage of affordable homes is having ominous consequences for the health, education, public safety, and overall well-being of our kids and families.  Safe and stable housing for all is an essential foundation from which to build a strong, vibrant region.

Each election, persons with low incomes and experiencing extreme housing instability vote at lower rates than people with higher incomes and housed, despite the fact that many policy decisions directly impact the economically disenfranchised. We can attend rallies, share posts on social media, and even write letters to the editor - - but there is no substitute for voting.  

John D. De Taeye