Portland Protests: Only One-Third of Arrested Portland Anti-Trump Protesters Bothered to Vote

From the moment it became clear that Donald Trump was going to be president of the United States, thousands of people filled the streets of cities from Portland to Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles to Boston and New York. For days, they raged — making it clear they were not happy with the election's outcome.

Portland hosted the tensest demonstrations with thousands of people taking to the street and hundreds turning violent.

“Not my president” was their message. It was written on placards and chanted as they marched. They screamed to the world that Trump’s election was not acceptable to them, that they would be watching his every move closely. Democracy, the message went, depended on vigilance.

Many of the most exercised and violent of the group protesting the election's outcome, though, have this dirty, little secret in common: They never bothered to vote.

In essence, they had joined the millions of Americans who helped elect Donald Trump by staying at home on Election Day.

They protested plenty. Three nights after the election, Portland's streets became the most violent in the nation. Scores of people rampaged, causing more than $1 million in damage as they smashed windows, businesses, cars.

Portland Police declared it a riot.

Of the 112 people arrested in Portland for whom birth date and place of residence could be established, 89 people listed Oregon addresses. Of those, only 73 were registered to vote in Oregon and, of those, only 34 actually cast a ballot. There were seven people who listed Washington as their home (at least two of whom did vote), one from California and one from Texas. Fourteen people listed no home address.

Only one-third of those who had had enough energy to show up at a protest and get themselves arrested had enough energy to cast a ballot.

Patch spoke with several march organizers who, while trying to minimize the issue, recognize that just showing up at a march isn't going to change anything.

Even President Obama — speaking in Germany on Thursday — made the same point.

“One of the great things about our democracy is it expresses itself in all sorts of ways, and that includes people protesting,” Obama said. "I would not advise people who feel strongly or are concerned about some of the issues that have been raised during the course of the campaign — I wouldn't advise them to be silent.”

At the same time, Obama made it clear he does not believe protesting is enough.

“What I would advise — what I advised before the election and what I will continue to advise after the election — is that elections matter, voting matters, organizing matters, being informed on the issues matter,” he said. “Democracy is hard work.”

In a conversation with Patch, Gregory McKelvey, the leader of Portland’s Resistance, which organized many of the marches over the past week, echoed the president's remarks.

"We need to get more people involved," he said. "It's one thing to be out on the streets but that is not enough.”

Confronted with the fact that there were so many people who hadn't voted, McKelvey tried to put a positive spin on the numbers.

“I have to tell you that I am surprised that the number is that high,” he says. “I would have guessed the number would be much lower. People who are protesting are people who feel disenfranchised, feel that the system not only doesn’t work for them but works against them.

“So, the fact that these people — even though they have issues with the system — chose to participate in the system is very encouraging.”

There is some support for McKelvey’s notion.

Randy Blazak, a sociologist who is on the faculty of the University of Oregon, says that McKelvey is right to some degree.

He says that any time you have a large protest there is going to be an element of people who are going to be get themselves arrested. There will be people who are out there for whatever the cause is, but then there will be those who are not "politically articulate."

The question now before McKelvey and other protest organizers is what happens next? How will they be able to keep those focused on "the cause" from being hijacked by anarchists and others looking to cause trouble? Will they be able to turn their protests into a movement that makes a difference, or will they fade away?

McKelvey says paying attention to the movements that came before and learning from their victories and mistakes is very important.

“Look at the Occupy Movement,” he says. “You can see much of their language in the language of the Sanders campaign. On that level, they were able to successfully evolve from a street movement to where their goals were being presented on a national stage.”

That is why, McKelvey says, his group is working with others around the country.

“We’ve been in contact with people in New York, Boston, and D.C.,” he says. “Those three cities are acting as leaders for the rest of the country. But there are also groups like us in Austin, Oakland, Fort Lauderdale. The lines of communication are open and we are all talking about what’s working and what’s not.

“It’s one thing to be able to get thousands of people on the street but our goal is to evolve from a protest group into a political action group. We can’t just tell people we’re not happy with something. We need to get people involved.”

McKelvey says that part of that is starting young, getting high school students involved — there is a walkout planned at Portland high schools this coming Monday.

“We want people to feel they are accomplishing something, that they are involved in working for change,” he says. “If we can’t get people involved beyond just protesting, if we can’t become politically active, then we’ve failed."