This year, voters in Wards 7 and 8 turned out to vote in the primaries in far more significant numbers than past elections. About 20% of registered voters in Ward 8 cast a ballot, and 27% of Ward 7 registered voters cast their ballot. That was a huge jump compared to 2018, when fewer than 8% of registered voters in Ward 8 and about 12% of voters in Ward 7 did so.

Still, voter turnout in Wards 7 and 8 in the primaries this year was lower than other parts of the city.  But that doesn’t mean voters in those areas don’t care about local issues, though. In fact, they’re intensely interested in local affairs.

So, with voting in D.C.’s local general elections already underway and Election Day right around the corner, DCist/WAMU spoke with voters who work or live in Wards 7 and 8 about the issues that are driving them to the polls this year — and what they think could help improve civic engagement in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.

In addition to expressing concern about central issues facing the city — like housing and displacement, for example – the voters also expressed concern about a lack of opportunities to get involved in local politics, especially for younger people, people who don’t own their homes, and those who don’t have a lot of free time to testify at D.C. Council hearings and voice their concerns to elected officials. They wanted to see more robust local reporting to inform residents — and more accessible public meetings where people can discuss the issues on their mind, with food and childcare provided.

They also described a kind of cycle, where people in Wards 7 and 8 who are most affected by rising rents, displacement, crime, and injustice don’t vote because they don’t think politicians serve their interests.

“A lot of current residents don’t believe in the system because nothing changes,” said Charles Boston. “Look at what’s going on with the Housing Authority. Look at what’s going on with crime.”

But residents also said that voting is a privilege that some paid a very high a price for us to have, so it shouldn’t be ignored. “People have lost their lives so that we can vote today,” said Meeka Parker. “So get out there and vote and get your voice heard.”

Read what voters in Wards 7 and 8 told us about what’s important to them this election below.

Their responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Arnica Hamilton

As far as choosing a candidate? I think the most important thing right now is to focus on people of color, Black people, because I am starting to see there is more, you know, Caucasians around. And it’s like to the point where it’s getting gentrified, rent is going up. So I feel as though it should be a candidate that focuses a little bit more on poverty instead of, like, upgrading the city and for the looks or for the esthetic of it to attract more people to come. They should focus on what was already built in the city and fix it first, if you get what I mean.

In my community specifically, I feel like it’s not enough activities or things for kids to do. It’s no playgrounds around. The only playground they have to go to is up the street in the hood, you know, so [there’s] a bunch of violence around, it’s not really safe.

What do you look for in a candidate before you go to the to the polls to vote?

I’m definitely looking [to see] if they’re from here, [I] research their background. Have they been through certain struggles? Have they ever faced adversity before? You know, that’s what my main thing is. I’m looking at can I relate to the person that I’m voting for, if that makes sense.

Once you understand the culture, you understand how to approach the people, how to service the people and all of that.

Do you feel from your perspective that people in your community take voting seriously? Why or why not? 

I barely hear people talking about voting or going out to vote. So, no, I definitely don’t think people take it seriously. There are certain elders that take pride in who they [vote for] in [the] community and who’d they want to run the neighborhoods. As far as my personal experience, I don’t think anybody takes voting seriously.

I just don’t think they have the resources to know. We don’t really have people [candidates] that’s going around, specifically in my neighborhood, going around talking to people like how the law [works], talking to people – telling them their purpose, telling them why they want to run, people are not doing it well. So one, it’s not enough knowledge to begin with.

I just think people don’t have enough time to go vote, like they have so much things that they have to worry about as far as kids, work. I don’t think that people have even the time to go out and vote or to care about voting. They care about their life. As far as the candidates? My message to them is to go out in the community more, interact with the people that you’re trying to advocate for. I feel like when you do that, you’ll get recognition not only for yourself but for them as well.

Luci Murphy

I organize and direct the Black Workers Center Chorus at the ONE DC Black Workers and Wellness Center.

You know, we think we elect officials to represent us. And often after we elect them, we discover that they are not representing us, but they are representing the people who funded their campaigns. The major donors are not the common people who vote.

What’s are the biggest issues in Wards 7 and 8?

Stable housing – you can’t think, you can’t study, you can’t get to work on time, if your housing is constantly changing. Then your mode of transportation, the length of time transportation [takes] is constantly changing. And sometimes you may find yourself in a place where there is no transportation to get you to your workplace. The housing that you can afford does not exist near the transportation that can get you to your work.

The housing market has gotten crazy, as I mentioned. I remember my aunt buying a house for $25,000, a serious two story house with a real basement and a real front yard and backyard on North Capitol Street, in the sixties. It was a house with electricity, plumbing  – and a real working house, not a condemned property, for $25,000. And now that same property is probably worth $750,000 to $100,000,000. And our salaries have not gone up to keep pace with the cost of housing.

It’s really up to us to organize because politicians pay attention to organizations. When they see a group of people organized – their funders may be slipping money into their back pockets [but] they know that [if] they want to keep the job, they have to pay attention to organized constituents.

Is there anything else on the topic of, the upcoming election, D.C. politics that you want to mention? 

There seems to be a lot of money put into posters and telephone calls and videos for elections, but not very much money put into actually bringing people together to talk to each other about things that really concern them. We need more opportunities for people to meet, which means we need to provide dinner and child care, because right now the only people meeting, not the only people, but most of the people meeting are homeowners, retired people. And who’s left out are teenagers. The young parents. The the people who work 60 and 80 hours per week to pay the rent and don’t have time to come to a meeting. But maybe if we had some food that they like to eat, they might just make time to show up and talk about what’s bothering them and what they would like to see.

Julia Tutt

I’m connected to ward eight because I’m a ward, 8 resident and I’m the resident council president.

What do you feel is important for communities in Ward 7 and 8 when it comes to this upcoming election?

Gun violence. It is so much gun violence in our wards. I feel like we need a lot of security – they keep our kids safe. They [kids] can’t come outside and play. You can’t walk to the store. You just can’t. So [with] this upcoming election, I’m hoping that we can all come together. Ward 8, Ward 7, all the communities around can come together and try to, you know, get these guys to put the guns down.

From your experience, when it comes to the election, do you feel as though residents in Ward 7 and 8 take it seriously? 

Oh, I don’t think they take it seriously. The reason why is because we vote, people [candidates] make us promises that they’re going to do A, B, C and D,  and it never happens. Once they get in, they forget all about what they said they were going to do for the communities. So that’s why nobody votes. That’s why they send the ballots to your house and they never get mailed again. They try to make it easy for us, but still we look at them and be like, ‘they ain’t gonna do nothing.’

It’s not going to get better. What they [candidates] can do to change it is start showing us that they care about us, they care about the community, they care about the people, they care about housing. There’s a lot going on in our community, not just the gun violence. There’s a lot of homelessness going on, a lot of  substance abuse going on from ages ten and up. So we need help in the community. If you go over to Ward, 3, 4, or 5, you don’t see that.

I would say if you could sit your whole community down and talk to them about choosing someone on a ballot to represent them, what advice would you give them on how to choose? 

When they [candidates] come out and  knock on your doors, they represent themselves. You could tell spiritually, if you tap into their spirit, you’ll be able to tell who’s a better selection for whatever ward or ANC or whatever it is that they’re running for. I’m a people person, I’m 65 years old, I’ve been out here a long time.

I would  like to say, pick the person that you feel is best that can give us what we need in our community. You know, let’s do this together. Let’s build together. Let’s love thy neighbor. People think when we say love thy neighbor that’s the person next door. It’s anybody you come in contact with. Be kind to everybody you talk to. There’s good in everybody. Even with the gun violence going on, it’s good in that person, you gotta tap into them to see what’s causing all this anger, what’s causing all this friction that’s out here. Then you can make it peaceful, you know what I’m saying?

Makhia McCollough

So as far as voting in your community, is it talked about often at all? 

I feel as though the younger people, my generation, don’t really think about it or talk about it or think about who will be representing us and making all the changes in the community to make it a better place. But I do feel as though the older people that have been around, they really take partnership and actually want to be involved in making the community a better place for the newer generation.

I just feel as though the younger generation has their own mind. Everyone has a different lifestyle, everyone has a different story. So I just feel as though the way that they go about things will always be different. You’ll never have the same mindset or see eye to eye with everyone because everyone has their own story in life. I feel the younger generation, they’re more so thinking about their self and making their own decisions and not looking for other people for help or to make changes because they probably feel as though things won’t work in their manner, or work when they want it to. They don’t understand that you should just have to wait, and they will come.

How do you do your research on candidates?

I do have social media, so I do look up what people do outside of work, not outside of work, but what they post on the page to let the public see, to show them who they really are. I read comments, I read the newspaper. I’ve seen candidates walk around posting flyers, promote their election.

If I was to be able to sit the candidates down today or tomorrow,  I would tell them think about everyone else’s thoughts and not just your own. I feel as though they should not think about just what they want, be open minded to different opportunities, different obstacles that might come your way. Everyone should really work together and not be against each other. You see someone else doing something else, you shouldn’t go and be against them. Go harder for what you want.

Everyone’s voice should be heard. If you feel as though you have a good thing to say about the community and you will want one of the candidates to take it into consideration, then you should speak up no matter how old or young. I feel as though if you have a voice and you see something is wrong, you should say something.

Charles Boston

I’m environmental engineer and arborist. I’m doing a program at H.D. Woodson (High School) with students [about] engineering, environmental sustainability, teaching the steps [on] how to [do] landscaping.

What do you feel is important for the community when it comes to this upcoming election?

I went to Pennsylvania recently, right? The other day, actually, to the tree farm we have up there. And there was a sign that said ‘Vote Red’. That’s all it said. It was on Route 83 and it made me think about the sign I’ve been seeing pretty much like in Prince George’s County. And that  says ‘Vote Democrat’. No name, no message, ‘Vote Red, Vote Democrat’. And I was thinking to myself actually this morning, because I saw the ‘Vote Democrat’ again right there on Southern Avenue in East Capitol Street, like, are we that far removed from what’s really needed in our communities to where a name is not even needed?

We need people that are honest and not really tied into the way the current structure is set up to operate.I mean a political system, in my personal opinion, you know, corporations run it. It’s just that simple. It’s just that simple. And, you know, independents don’t typically favor all too well. You know, I’m an independent myself because they don’t have the money. And so, we have to kind of realize how the system was set up to operate and look at the track record. Ideally, whether it is red or whether it’s blue, look at [what] the parties have done over the last decade as it pertains to what may be needed in your community. And, you know, hold them accountable.

What is it that you look for in a candidate? 

The last two elections, it’s been really hard because you just see vote blue like straight down the thing. And I think that you have to be open to a person that identifies with the republican party but has an agenda that heals or helps your community. I want to hear exactly what they’re saying and know whether what they’re saying is something that we need or something that will help. I look for honestly,  I look for connection to the community. And often what I see now is that is absent.

You know, most of your candidates have very little association with either the community, the neighborhood, or the city. Like five years, two years, eight years. But they were raised somewhere else. And that matters because you don’t know the history. And if you don’t know the history, how can you take me somewhere? How can you take me somewhere if you don’t know where I’m at? Or more important, if you don’t know how I got to where I’m at, that’s the first thing that you need to know.

From your experience, when it comes to like the election, do you feel as though residents in Ward 7 and 8 take it seriously? 

Absolutely not. I believe a portion does. I think some of our politicians of color play into this. They understand like we have very loyal voters. A lot of our seniors are very loyal voters. And I think they believe in a system, but they’re so far removed from the needs because a lot of them may, you know, they’ve already retired. They own their home. They don’t have children in school.

A lot of current residents don’t believe in the system because nothing changes. You know, look at what’s going on with the housing authority. Look at what’s going on with crime. It’s no different than it was 20 years ago or 30 years ago. There’s no difference. 

What would your advice be when it comes to when people are going to the  polls?  What would you suggest that they do prior to going there and selecting their people?

What I think they should look for is, what have [candidates] really done.  What have you really done?

I wish that the community would make a push to get our young people involved, to get the voting age lowered to 16. I really think young people need to be able to exercise their voice. There’s so many decisions that are being made, laws pertaining to the environment, pertaining to transportation, pertaining to criminality and juvenile justice and adult justice. And those that will be affected the most have no voice.

It’s on us as adults to try to find a way to get their attention back to this voting process. Because it’s not that I don’t believe in the system. I just don’t believe in those that are currently managing and in control of it. Because voting does work. It does change things. But if you don’t have the right person that’s in office, that’s really for the public and the and the people, then you’re going to have issues.

Derrell Simpson

I’m a native Washingtonian. A proud native Washingtonian. I grew up here in Ward 5, northwest neighborhood. And when I grew up, it was called Florida Park. Today, the neighborhood is known as Truxton circle. It’s like the Dunbar neighborhood, right? Maybe a couple of blocks over from Shaw. And now I live in Ward 8, a proud ward 8 resident. 

There’s a very serious conversation that’s taking place across the District of Columbia, and you know, some argue across the country, about affordability. Being able to afford a good and decent quality of life.

Just basic things, like the Department of Motor Vehicles just went on and doubled the fees for you to register your car. But yet we hear politicians talking about how we are doing everything we can do to improve affordability and make sure the citizens can stay on par with inflation. But your actions say different. And to me it’s, you know, when you really think about it, what the hell are we changing? We’re talking about printing a tag. We’re talking about a piece of paper. What went up? What cost actually went up? And what went up about the cost of the paper that we had to double and triple the cost of some of these basic services. It does not make sense. 

Affordable housing, just the the ability to afford to live in D.C. from a housing standpoint is astronomical in terms of numbers. You know, when you look at one-bedroom, two-bedroom homes and apartments in our District, just renting,  you see serious, serious problems there. And then we look at rent control. Our rent control laws only protect buildings  that were built prior to 1974. So what happens to all of the new buildings that have been built right now? 

I think, you know, part of that is we continue to let in people who don’t give a fuck, and at the end of the day, that is hurting our communities. I think we continue to give a pass for people whose name we’ve heard a lot. We continue to give a pass for people who do just enough to get us to the next election. And I think that that’s hurting us. We cannot continue to elect people just because they’re our friends, we can’t continue to elect people just because we eat at the same restaurant that they eat at. We cannot continue to elect people just because their kids attend the same school as your kids.  I think we have to begin to look at what they’re actually doing and where they stand on key issues and how they respond to us.

I think a lot of times we mistake activity for achievement.

What advice would you give the community on how to stay in the know of what’s going on with these politicians?

It’s going to take local journalism that focuses on hyper-local issues. You see The Washington Post, which is an international, global paper, that’s housed here in D.C.  That has one little section about D.C., the metro section. And we share that section with Maryland and Virginia. So it’s not it’s got a lot of space to talk about what’s happening here. And we have other publications like The Washington Informer that do a pretty good job on covering stories that aren’t always controversial.  I guess you would say we have a lot of blogs that have come up there that share viewpoints and different perspectives. But I think what we miss is unbiased reporting. And I think that, you know, there was a time when we relied on papers like The City Paper, the Loose Lips column, that really dug deep into the community issues. Now, you know,  we have folks who are come from all over the country to write the articles in in these papers instead of folks writing from our community. 

Meeka Parker 

What do you feel is important for communities in Wards 7 and 8 when it comes to this upcoming election?

What’s important for my community and myself, is safety. What are they going to do about the crime rate that is increasing? It seems like every couple of months it’s something else. What are they going to do for us? I want to feel safe. Whether I want to walk to the store or go out, it doesn’t seem like that’s really possible. In D.C., I feel uncomfortable. The candidates, like what are they about? Are they from D.C.? Are they going to mean what they say? Do they know what’s important to D.C.? Like housing? I’ve been here all my life and D.C. is becoming so, like, not affordable for the average person. The average people are willing to be pushed out. Those are my two biggest concerns, you know.

As far as by candidates, from your experience, do you feel as though they’ve done enough for the communities here in Wards 7 and 8?

No, I never really see them over here at all, even when they’re like knocking on doors or getting their message out. I barely ever see them come over here, even if I call into the mayor’s office and file a complaint or, you know, try to get stuff done. One of the things I want to know is why my neighborhood isn’t considered a neighborhood.  [It’s] all houses on our street, there’s no apartments, there’s no businesses, just a corner store. But when I called in, it’s actually not considered a neighborhood. So stuff that neighborhoods can get, like zoned parking, you cannot get that in my area because it’s not a neighborhood. And nobody can [tell] me why that is. So if we want speed bumps, because there’s [cars] flying up and down the street,’Oh, well, that’s not technically a neighborhood.’

From your experience, when it comes to the election, do you feel as though residents in Ward 7 and 8 take it seriously? 

I don’t feel like people know that their vote really matters. I have talked to several people about why they choose [not] to vote. [When] talking to our people [African Americans], [I say] well, why don’t you go out and vote, make your voice heard? How people died literally to get this right. [They’re] like, oh, they [community] don’t really matter. They [candidates – are going to] do whatever they want to do. [They say] ‘Everybody’s crooked, I don’t care what they do.’  I think voting is important. Like I said, people have lost their lives so that we can vote today. So get out there and vote and get your voice heard.