AALDEF: Voting Rights



			Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
	Program Areas 9.11 Disaster Response Affirmative Action Anti-Asian Bias Anti-Trafficking Initiative Economic Justice Educational Equity Equal Access to Services Immigrants' Rights Leadership Development Voting Rights		AALDEF Voting Rights Resources: The Asian American Vote in the 2006 Midterm Elections: NY, NJ, MA, MI, PA, MD, VA, IL, WA, DC Asian Americans and the Voting Rights Act: The Case for Reauthorization AALDEF Backgrounder: Language Access to the Vote for Asian Americans Asian American Access to Democracy in the 2004 Elections: Local Compliance with the Voting Rights Act and Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in NY, NJ, MA, RI, MI, IL, PA, VA The Asian American Vote 2004: A Report on the AALDEF Multilingual Exit Poll in the 2004 Presidential Election The ability to have a say in the workings of government, either as an elected official or as a voter, is a powerful empowerment tool. Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic population in the United States, yet the community's political strength has yet to be fully realized. Related News: ASIAN AMERICAN VOTERS FAVOR CLINTON AND McCAIN IN NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES (2/6/08) New Report: Asian American Voters Face Discrimination, Improper Voter ID Checks in 2006 Elections (1/8/08) ASIAN AMERICAN GROUPS URGE U.S. SUPREME COURT TO STRIKE DOWN DISCRIMINATORY VOTER ID LAW (11/13/07) ASIAN AMERICAN ELECTION PROTECTION 2007 (11/5/07) There have been some major victories, such as Gary Locke's election as governor of Washington and David Wu's election to Congress from Oregon, and Asian American representation at the state and local levels continues to grow in California. Asian American civic participation continues to lag far behind the community's population growth, however, and voter registration rates are woefully low. In New York, which boasts the nation's second largest Asian American population at more than 800,000, there never was an Asian American elected to city-wide, state-wide or national office until John Liu's election to the City Council in 2001. This is a startling and perilous fact. The stereotype of Asian Americans as a model minority has obscured the continuing barriers that prevent Asian Americans from participating effectively as candidates or as voters. Barriers to Political Participation Throughout United States history, Asian Americans have been disenfranchised by discriminatory laws that denied citizenship to Asian immigrants and rendered them ineligible to vote. It was not until 1943 that Chinese Americans were first permitted to become citizens. For Asian Indians, it was 1946. For Japanese Americans and other Asian Americans, that right did not come until 1952. The legacy of these discriminatory policies and the notion of Asian Americans as foreigners is still strongly felt today, impeding Asian American political participation. In 1996, when anti-immigrant welfare and immigration laws went into effect, millions of immigrants applied to become naturalized citizens, many citing the right to vote as a major reason. While many have gone on to become naturalized US citizens and thus eligible to vote, 1.8 million are stuck in the INS backlog of naturalization applications. In New York, immigrants are forced to wait more than three years for their applications to be processed. The long wait, rising naturalization fees and the mishandling by INS of applications has deterred many other immigrants from applying for citizenship. The 1996 campaign finance scandal also harmed Asian American political participation by targeting the entire Asian American community for the transgressions of a few individuals. Contributors with Asian-sounding surnames were contacted by party officials and questioned about their immigration status. Congress was flooded with legislation banning legal permanent residents from making political contributions, calling for "reform" of the naturalization process to make it more difficult for permanent residents to become naturalized citizens, and allowing election officials to purge voter registration rolls if the citizenship status of voters could not be verified through government databases. This proposed legislation was only targeted for five states-New York, California, Florida, Illinois and Texas, the states with the highest Asian American populations. AALDEF's Asian American Democracy Project AALDEF has been playing a lead role in promoting civic participation among Asian Americans, immigrants and new citizens through community education, election reform advocacy, and technical assistance to community-based organizations. In preparation for the 2004 Elections, we focused on safeguarding the right to vote and ensuring fair implementation of the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), the Voting Rights Act, and new election reform proposals. Election Monitoring AALDEF worked with the NYC Board of Elections (BOE) to improve trainings for poll workers and ensure compliance with language assistance provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act. AALDEF monitored 42 polling sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens during the September 9, 2003 Primary Elections. We also monitored 60 polling sites in New York City, Jersey City, and Palisades Park, NJ during the November 4, 2003 General Elections, and provided a multilingual hotline to assist voters with any questions or problems at the polls. In addition, we surveyed 1,000 Asian American voters in 10 languages and dialects during the general elections to collect vital information about Asian American voting patterns that are often overlooked in mainstream voter surveys. A number of voting problems were documented by AALDEF, including insufficient Chinese and Korean language assistance, availability of translated materials, and knowledge of general election procedures. After the elections, we prepared and sent a letter to the BOE with detailed reviews of these problems to prevent them from occurring in the next election. To increase public awareness about voting rights and violations, we also briefed Asian language media about the monitoring work. In September, 2003, AALDEF released a report, "Asian American Access to Democracy in the 2002 Midterm Elections in New York City," exposing the BOE's failure to provide adequate language assistance to non-English-proficient Chinese and Korean voters. The report also details other troubling obstacles encountered by Asian American voters, such as hostile poll-workers who made anti-Asian remarks and prevented interpreters from assisting voters. These persistent problems underscore the need for state and local officials to implement new election reform procedures in ways that will remove institutional voting barriers faced by Asian American voters. Election Reform Advocacy AALDEF has been providing policy guidance and recommendations to various governmental bodies implementing the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was passed in the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential election debacle in Florida. Over the past two years, AALDEF also has been working closely with Asian American groups and individuals to ensure a fair congressional, state and local post-Census 2000 redistricting process that will give Asian Americans and other minority voters an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice. The Future The dawning of this new millennium holds great significance for the civic life of Asian Americans and all Americans. Much will be at stake in the 2004 elections, including control of the White House and Congress. By extension, with several Justices advanced in years, the next president also will decide who should get lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. The right to vote is a powerful one, and Asian Americans should make the most of their opportunity to have a voice in this upcoming election cycle. Don't forget the slogan "Think global, act local." Local politics are often more accessible to local citizens than national politics, so you can have a bigger impact.

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