CHICAGO: Shobhana Johri Verma, an Indian American woman activist, is the Chicago Election Board’s first-ever liaison with the City’s Asian-Indian voters and community organizations.
Johri Verma joins an Election Board Community Services team that provides language assistance to Chicago’s Hispanic, Chinese and Polish communities.
Welcoming her to the Election Board, Chairman Langdon D. Neal, observed that she brings extensive experience in outreach, and that “we are pleased that she has agreed to work with us on expanding voter services in Chicago.”
Johri Verma’s work will involve coordinating language-assistance in the polling places for Asian-Indian voters, as well as community outreach to Asian-Indian community groups. She is expected in recruiting bilingual Judges of Election who are fluent in English/Hindi, English/Gujarati and English/Urdu. Under the federal Voting Rights Act, bilingual judges must be available in designated precincts to provide language assistance to voters on Election Day.
Johri Verma’s duties will also involve promoting voter-registration and providing equipment demonstrations. Johri Verma also oversees voting-material translations in Hindi for the Election Board.
Johri Verma’s experience includes defending and promoting human rights, including advocacy for rape victims, legal research to combat human trafficking, and film and print-media work in Chicago, Los Angeles and India on a variety of vital gender issues. She holds a Bachelor’s in Biology and Master’s degree in Women’s Studies from Lucknow University as well as a Master’s degree in Women’s Studies from the University of Cincinnati. She is also a parent volunteer in the Chicago Public Schools.
Surendra Ullal
