Opinion: The founder of Streamline 2024 explains how this platform simplifies complex policy information, helping Indian American voters stay informed and make confident decisions in this pivotal election year.
By Rohan Soni
With the rise of Indian American political influence, Streamline 2024 provides accessible policy information to ensure voters are equipped to make informed decisions in this critical election cycle.
With over 4.8 million living in the United States and over 2 million being citizens, the Indian American community is one of the fastest-growing groups in America. With this, many politicians are turning their attention to our community in hopes of convincing us to vote for them.
In fact, this November there is an opportunity for the first Indian American president in American history. It cannot be denied that Indian Americans are becoming one of the most important electorates when looking ahead to the future.
However, with this increased focus on our political potential comes the responsibility that we hold to get active in politics. Participation in the political process comes in many ways. It can be running for office, like Rep. Ro Khanna, or studying political science in school, but the most important way to participate for every single one of us is to stay informed.
As November 5th approaches, we have the utmost responsibility to know exactly what it is we are voting for with each candidate and how it will affect our community as well as the country itself. However, this is not easy—especially with the rampant disinformation being spread across social media such as WhatsApp, Twitter, and Tik Tok—combined with how hard it is to find policy information itself.
Noticing this need in our community and the country is why I founded Streamline 2024, an accessible and digestible policy database that gives the average voter the knowledge needed to be able to make an informed vote. The best way I could serve the Indian American community for this election cycle is by navigating the complex nuances of each candidate’s policies and making them understandable.
On our website, you will find information about the now infamous Project 2025, a 900-page policy book that looks at the federal government on an agency-to-agency basis and provides dangerous recommendations on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, education policy, immigration policy, and so much more.
Everything in this policy proposal affects the Indian American and American community in drastic ways, and when you look at our website to compare it to Trump’s plan they are the same. On Streamline, we also provide historical comparisons from 2016 to 2024 on issues like crime, immigration, and the issue most important to so many Indian Americans, the economy. It also provides the policies of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, even providing a direct comparison to Trump’s plan on issues such as abortion, gun control, and immigration. Finally, we provide concise information for every state that gives you voter registration deadlines and when early voting opens in your state.
If just one of you reading this op-ed right now goes to our website, read through everything we have written down, and leave the website with an informed decision on who to vote for, then our mission will be a success.
Spread across 5-plus college campuses, the Streamline team works tirelessly to make sure that we continue to produce information, graphics, and videos that help to break down the nuances of the upcoming election.
On this year’s presidential ballot, we have policies proposed that would drastically alter the trajectory of the Indian American community. It is up to you to decide the future of our country, and to fulfill this duty Streamline will be there to make sure you are as informed as you can be.
(Rohan Soni, a political science student at Columbia University, is the founder of Streamline 2024.)