Voter Engagement as Justice: The Potential, Limitations, and How to Engage Folks in the Process

Mansi Kathuria of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago described her organization's youth, grassroots and pan-Asian voter empowerment programs; traced a history of voter disenfranchisement from an 1857 Massachusetts grandfather law through Jim Crow, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and recent voter ID fights; and shared 2018 Illinois turnout data showing that contacted Asian American voters turned out about 30 percent more. A long audience discussion followed on voter suppression, student registration rates and language access.