On January 11th, 2014, SAAPRI’s Executive Director Ami Gandhi spoke at a Voting Rights Forum at Evanston Public Library discussing voter empowerment, voter suppression, and how to ensure all citizens have the right to vote. Voter suppression tactics and other barriers threaten the right to vote, especially among communities of color. A growing number of South Asian Americans in suburban Cook County are eligible to vote but have limited English proficiency, and they might not know that they have the right to vote in Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, and other languages.
Along with Ami, Ruth Greenwood of Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, George Mitchell of NAACP-Evanston, and Evonda Thomas-Smith of LWV of Evanston all spoke as well.
Co-hosts: YWCA Evanston/North Shore, League of Women Voters of Evanston, NAACP-Evanston, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority ENSA