Two Real World D.C. cast members at a DC Vote event in July.

When The Real World D.C. cast came to town a few months ago, we heard that they’d be doing what so many folks in the city do — working for a number of non-profit and advocacy organizations. Noble as that is, we wouldn’t have necessarily guessed it likely that they’d be working on any local causes. But it turns out, they did.

Up to five Real World cast members have been doing volunteer work for DC Vote, the city’s leading voting rights advocacy organization. They came in on a weekly basis, helping organize the Champions of Democracy dinner taking place in October and staffing tables at an event in July. One cast member, Ashley, appears to have been inspired by the cause, volunteering twice a week and bringing two other cast members with her, according to a source.

Members of Congress certainly won’t start running to correct the District’s disenfranchisement only because The Real World says so, but we can’t underestimate the power of having a show on MTV communicate the mind-boggling stupidity of denying 600,000 people the right to a vote in Congress because of where they live. The D.C. voting rights movement has long lacked a national presence, and the more people across the country learn of the District’s second-class status, the better the chance that they just might mention a little something about it to their own member of Congress. I’m not expecting that a whole episode of the show will be dedicated to our plight, but even sandwiching a few clips of DC Vote’s work between roommate arguments and drunken hookups is something.