Northwestern University students working with the Roosevelt Institution’s Center on Poverty and Urban Issues are writing policy proposals to help rectify voting inequality in the Chicago area. The Northwestern branch of the Roosevelt Institution, a national student-run think tank, picks an issue every year to research and proposes policies to rectify the problems students see. The students are going to present their proposals to state and local legislators to help facilitate their implementation.
 
This year, their proposals deal with  problems in the implementation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which created voting assistance agencies in an attempt to improve access to voter registration and with the allocation of voting equipment on Election Day.

The students are doing in-depth research with help from Evanston and Chicago advocacy groups this semester, and aim to be done writing the policy proposals by the spring.
 
Even if the legislators do not fully support all both of proposals, the students are convinced that they are helping to effect change. “Just by presenting our work to legislators, we’re bringing our issues to the forefront of the debate and to their attention,” said co-policy director Daniel Hessel. “Even if it doesn’t get passed or even onto the table, there are several other successes that we win.”
 

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