Kenneth Gibson ran and won the mayoral seat in Newark in 1970. He became the first Black resident to do so. Voter turnout was 73 percent. When Ras J. Baraka, the current mayor, gained a third term in 2022, voter turnout was 9.8 percent. The difference is beyond staggering, it is damning. Housing instability might be the cause.
Newark, N.J. — With much at stake in the coming major elections, one poignant activity in this year’s cycle that will impact campaigns both nationally and locally is voter turnout. Going to the ballot box determines if Republican candidate, Donald Trump will return for his second presidency, or if the current Vice President, Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, will ascend as the first woman head-of-state in the U.S.
For the Democratic-leaning New Jersey, the Black vote still plays a significant role. According to the U.S. Census, 13.1 percent of residents identify as only Black. While Hispanic and Latino numbers are higher, their identity is an ethnic category, which makes Black voters the largest racial representation after whites.
Historically, the Black vote has been key in “the swing between the Republican and the Democratic side” of the state, said Elorm Ocansey, an organizer and minister who founded a “justice-centered community service ministry” that advocates for underrepresented New Jersey communities. The problem is, the decades-long deterioration of voter participation hits hard amongst Black voters. The latest report shows an 8 percent dip.
Newark, the largest city in the state, carries a longstanding reputation of political salience. An old city formed in the 1600s, the waves of political activity span across generations and racial and ethnic leadership. Since 1967, Newark’s Black political milieu has dominated and peaked at critical moments. It has been felt from city hall to the governor’s doorstep; and even recognized by the White House, including the Joe Biden Administration.
A majority-black municipality, followed by a strong Latino population, eligible Newark voters are descendants of those who understand the consequences of limited voter representation. While the mantra for this election emphasizes that this is “the most important election” in our lifetime, participation rates reflect a Black voting malaise.
Whereas states like Georgia and Florida experience voting disenfranchisement in the form of purging voter rolls and reducing voting stations, in cities like Newark, housing instability directly links to low voter participation. “There is no doubt that eviction and housing instability negatively affects voter turnout,” told Shakari Byerly to Ark Republic.
Dr. Byerly is a political scientist and managing partner at Evitarus, a public opinion research and strategic consulting firm. She contends that the “the great recession in 2007” was a “national crisis” that “many Black and brown communities had not fully recovered from.” She sees “the steady uptick in housing issues before the pandemic and the surge during and after is a direct result of how recovery policies and supports are implemented.”
MLK in photo display in Essex County Courthouse by Supervisor of Elections in Newark, New Jersey. King who is the main face of the Civil Rights movement, fought for voting rights as one of the main focal points of the campaign for equality for Blacks in the U.S. Photo credit: Kaia ShiversNewark is a city of renters. The U.S. census states that only 24.6 percent of the city are homeowners in comparison to the state’s 63.7 percent. The high renting population shows both a transient Newarker, and on average, one who is vulnerable to housing uncertainties.
Alaina Thomas, a housing justice attorney who is a Practitioner of Practice at Rutgers Law School in Newark, recounted that she saw Newark’s housing court see upwards of 200 cases a day for depositions and discovery following its reopening after the COVID-19 shut down. This account corroborates with Dr. Byerly who informed that “those behind on rent due to Pandemic moratoriums are disproportionately people of color, with 11.3 percent of white renters behind on rent in February 2022, compared to 19.7 percent of Hispanic renters, and a full 27.9 percent of Black renters.”
Relatively new to the field, Thomas quickly realized the complexities of eviction cases in Newark. “A housing issue is not just a housing issue. It’s often also an employment issue or reentry issue, [or] a mental health issue … [or a] domestic violence issue,” Thomas opined. She contends that if wraparound services are not in place for the average client facing eviction then “people could wind up falling through the cracks.”
In Newark, people did fall through the cracks. A 2022 CLiME Report released by the Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity showed that the foreclosure crisis initiated by the 2007 housing crisis saw an increase of institutional buyers. The center’s study reported that between 2017 and 2020, a whopping 47 percent of Newark’s single family homes in Black neighborhoods were purchased by three corporations and one anonymous investor. According to the study, the serial buying was the last and final blow to a once palpable Black middle class in the city.
What Thomas uncovered was that her clients expressed difficulty in engaging with the corporatized movements of “LLCs” in a Post-pandemic Newark rather than the “mom and pop landlords” they had long term established relationships with. The disconnect played a part in how many renters are treated, and ultimately, negotiate their housing security.
On voting days, housing security, or the lack thereof, becomes evident. Dr. Byerly points out that homeowners (58%) show up in stronger numbers on voting days than renters (37%). Minister Ocansey explains why. “The major reason why people don’t participate in the civic process and the electoral process is mainly because they’re swamped with their personal life.”
Minister Ocansey furthered his point by stating that potential voters dealing with housing issues are stuck with the “stress of high rents or couch surfing.” He explained, “What it takes to be active, and not just a passive participant just going to vote because somebody told you to do so, or just trying to to be a good citizen that’s the best of your capacity [might mean] that they cannot pay attention to the stories around election time, or participate in the city council meeting, or a planning board meeting, or some kind of a public meeting.”
There is a recent popular colloquialism that says, “Life be life’in,” to describe what Minister Ocansey unpacks in talking about low voter turnout and housing instability. “Housing instability creates a host of challenges as people try to manage their personal and business affairs especially if they do not have [a] stable mailing address, which can also impact access to information about voting and the issues on the ballot,” adds Dr. Byerly.
On a governmental level, the Baraka Administration has worked to address housing inequalities for years. In 2015, he launched a sweetheart deal by awarding 100 vacant lots for $1,000. What was billed as a potentially regular program only lasted one cohort as many of the lands went undeveloped.
Moving to a more legislative approach, in 2017, with months of political nudging, Mayor Baraka got the city council members to pass an inclusionary zone ordinance that forced coming developers to earmark a portion of their developments, if it was 30 units or more, as affordable housing. There would be a $20,000 fine if they refused. The inclusionary zone ordinance was amended in 2023 after the city made rapid revisions to its housing approaches following the release of the CLiME report and subsequent suggestions.
As well, the city is working to reduce its inventory of vacant housing, which was over 9,600 according to the most recent census. Also under the Baraka Administration, it instituted an Office of Affordable Housing and a digital map that tracks the city’s housing development initiative. Ark Republic reached out via email and in person to the City of Newark to provide insight on both its voter registration efforts and housing. They have yet to respond. Withal, the impact of these programs have yet to be fully measured, and voting turnout is to be determined in a little over a week.
Already, early voting and mail-in ballots have hit unprecedented records across the nation. At press time, 31 million voters and counting, have cast their ballots. In these reports, a historical number of Republican voters are using advance polling or pre-poll voting, which is a practice largely used by Democrats.
While Minister Ocansey said that he witnessed more “excitement for Kamala Harris” than when Barack Obama ran in 2007 in his volunteering for voter registration with New Brunswick’s NAACP, it is unclear if that enthusiasm will show up on Nov. 5.
Note: This article is part of our participation of the New Jersey Black Publishers Collaborative Project that focuses on the 2024 major elections.
