May 5, 2015
Chicago Votes Action Fund (CVAF), a non-partisan organization, believes democracy works better when more citizens participate. CVAF leans neither right nor left but looks forward.
The goal of the organization is to engage and develop a new generation of leaders by energizing Chicago’s Millennial voters; as its members put it, “people born after Kanye West (1977) but before Facebook (2004).”
And CVAF is getting it done!
While forging many strategic partnerships, Chicago Votes was instrumental in persuading the Illinois legislature to make Election Day voter registration a priority in the Spring 2014 legislative session. The bill was ultimately signed into law in January 2015, making Illinois the second largest state to have Election Day voter registration.
Chicago Votes volunteers meet Millennials on their turf, in places like music festivals and farmers’ markets, to foster full-spectrum political engagement within this young demographic.
Chicago Votes Action Fund is helping to expand voting rights in Illinois when other states are moving to restrict them. Members of CVAF believe politics should be more accessible, more equitable, and more innovative and they are poised to change the face of politics in Chicago and beyond.