The people in the organization known as We Are Voting Illinois (WAVI) have reached quite an impressive milestone—they got more than 10,000 Chicagoans to register to vote for the upcoming elections by hitting the streets in such neighborhoods as Lakeview and Andersonville. Windy City Times spoke with Michael McRaith, leader of the group's steering committee, about just what WAVI is as well as the effort that went into such a massive undertaking.
Windy City Times: How was this project coordinated?
Michael McRaith: The project was coordinated by several people who served on a steering committee—people who worked very hard to organize an unprecedented coalition of community groups. We succeeded in engaging a coordinator, Jen Agnos, who spearheaded efforts on a daily basis from Aug. 2 through Oct. 5.
WCT: WAVI is a coalition of about 30 groups, correct?
MM: Really, the number of participating groups is significantly greater than 30 because some coalition partners had several constituents. For example, Lakeview Action Coalition is made up of 35-40 church organizations on the North Side. Also, the AIDS Foundation includes its various service providers. We actually had closer to 70 groups. It was an unprecedented effort in the city's GLBT community.
WCT: How exactly did you get so many people to register?
MM: We successfully enlisted the aid of several coalition members. Of course, some groups only had enough resources or people to participate nominally. However, other groups had volunteers who were willing to work on the streets. That's what it comes down to, Andrew; people were committed to the effort. Volunteers from the Lesbian Community Cancer Project, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the AIDS Foundation, and other organizations were committed to WAVI's mission, which is to register voters in Chicago's GLBT community. Also, we successfully coordinated efforts so people were not duplicating efforts by showing up at the same place at the same time.
Basically, it comes down to people. People wanted to get it done and people got it done.
WCT: When did this project start? In 2000?
MM: There was another form of WAVI in 2000; it was made up of four or five organizations, including HRC, Equality Illinois, and the AIDS Foundation. However, really the GLBT voter registration effort goes back to 1992 and community stalwarts like Brandon Neese, Mark Ishaug and Kelly Cassidy [and Norm Sloan, still Chicago's voting registration champion, registering more than 6,000 single-handedly]. For Clinton's defeat of the first President Bush, they were on the street registering voters but without any sort of organizational affiliation. This year we decided that the GLBT community is right in the middle of the discussion, politically—and we needed to do what was necessary to empower the entire community. We chose to continue use of the WAVI title for several reasons, including our desire to recognize other successful grassroots efforts as well as the accomplishments of people like Brandon, Kelly, and Russ Klettke. These are people who have sacrificed countless hours, days, and weeks of their personal time.
WCT: You weren't looking for people who would vote for a particular candidate, right?
MM: That's right. WAVI was very much a nonpartisan effort. Voter registration is inherently nonpartisan. WAVI was not on behalf of any candidate; it was on behalf of the GLBT community. If the candidates want to use the GLBT community as a focal point for their discussions on social issues and ideology, then we should take part in that discussion, too.
WCT: Any concluding thoughts?
MM: We are so grateful that the community was able to coalesce and support this effort. We learned a lot—and we look forward to reaching out to more of the expanding diversity of the GLBT community in the future. We're also grateful for everyone who volunteered. I think we sent a message to politicians that we can meet any challenge by working together as a united community.
