The Chicago Board of Election Commission held a press conference February 25 at the Indo -American Center in Chicago to inform South Asian voters community leaders, and media members about the upcoming early voting which began Feb. 29, 2016.
Among the attendees were Illinois State Representative Lou Lang, Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein, Alderman Debra Silverstein of the 50th Ward and Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General of India in Chicago. Shobhana Johri Verma, director of South Asian Outreach from the commission, organized the press conference.
In her opening remarks, Verma talked about the strides that the election board has made to include language access to voters including voting ballots, the Chicago Board of Elections website, and all voting materials which are now available in Hindi.
The language process has also been supplemented by bilingual judges of election providing those fluent in English/ Hindi, English Guajarati and English Urdu a chance to earn $170 to $195 while providing a vital community service.
“When it comes to serving a community, and we can’t perform this task all alone, we are requesting the community members to serve as election judges who can facilitate the language assistance,” said Verma.
She also emphasized the importance for the South Asian community to participate in upcoming elections March 15 by not only seeking people who are already voting but also those who are not yet registered voters.
Voters can still register to vote and simultaneously vote at voting sites with appropriate identification.
“The growing concern over low participation of South Asian voters despite their unprecedented growth in population in the past decade will continue unless we increase groundwork and efforts to reach out to community members and discuss the power of every single vote,” said Verma.
Illinois Representative Lou Lang, a strong supporter of Asian American candidates, talked about the missing voice of ethnic communities and the South Asian voices being reflected in the political processes and urged the community to get out and vote. “For many, it has been the case that many people just don’t vote, and ethnic communities have an even lower turn out. This community needs to lift is voice; if your voice is not heard then other people will be electing them for you and we have seen decisions have been made in Springfield which we would not have chosen.”
Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein spoke briefly about why “voting is extremely important’ and urged all residents to come out and vote March 15.
Alderman Debra Silverstein thanked the Chicago Board of Elections and the Indo-American Center for organizing the event. “As citizens of the United States voting is a privilege (to be a voters), which many of us take for granted, and unfortunately there are still a lot of us who are not voting. We live in a great democracy which gives us the right to choose our elected officials and it is important that each of us exercise that right,” Silverstein said. “Let our voices be heard, every vote counts,” she said.
Ausaf Sayeed, who gave keynote address, drew comparisons between the U.S. and the Indian election process, highlighting the strides India has made in engaging disenfranchised voters and commended the work of Verma and the Chicago Election Board to provide that language access program for Hindi speaking voters.
“I cannot emphasize the importance for vote. Recently in a local election in Ladakh, the candidate won with a margin as small as only 36 votes. India has made efforts to comprehensively engage all voters. We even have polling booths where there are only two or three electors, but we made full efforts to engage them,” he said.
“I have lived in Chicago for more than 30 years and have been voting in presidential elections for 15 years. I am so happy to see that the South Asian community has been engaging in active voting process,” said 50th Ward voter Kalpana Desai.
Early voting began Feb. 29 thru March 15 at 51 locations across the City of Chicago. The polling hours are Monday through Saturday 9AM-5PM. Voters are encouraged to visit the Chicago Board of Elections website www.chicagoelections.com for detailed information and participate in the early voting process.
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