About 100 members of the Chicago Students Unionand their allies marched in support of an elected school board and adequate neighborhood school funding during a downtown protest Monday afternoon. Progress Illinois was there for the demonstration.
With the 2014 general election just 13 months away and voter registration numbers at an all-time low, hundreds of volunteers took to Chicagoland streets Tuesday to mark National Voter Registration Day in an effort to get as many new voters on the rolls as possible.
“Election
after election, millions of voters aren’t able to vote because they
miss voter registration deadlines or they didn’t know how to register,”
said Rebecca Reynolds, 28, executive director of Chicago Votes. “This
day is a day to try to make sure we leave no one out.”
Chicago Votes,
a volunteer-run civic engagement advocacy group, served as Illinois’
lead organization on Tuesday’s national day of action to increase voter
registration. More than 40 local groups, including the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, partnered with Chicago Votes to encourage residents to exercise their basic right to vote.
“Voter
registration has hit an all-time low in the city of Chicago,” said
Reynolds. “We’re trying to make voter registration easier, and more
accessible to everybody.”
With the 2014 general election just 13 months away and voter registration numbers 