But this year, there are new pockets of potential voters to register and a new reason to draw them out: Donald Trump. The presumptive Republican nominees controversial statements about Muslims, Mexicans and immigrants have alienated legions of nonwhite Americans. The challenge for Democrats is to find those Americans and make sure they are eligible to vote. Thats exactly what theyre doing in a strong push across the country.
Its definitely affected me to a very real sense. Its personal because I come from a family of immigrants, said John Choi, a 28-year-old Korean American who grew up in Gwinnett County and has seen the Asian population balloon there in recent years. A former staffer on a gubernatorial campaign in Massachusetts, Choi is outspoken about politics among his friends but this year has made him more so.
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In all these places, thousands of U.S. citizens of Asian descent arent registered to vote.
Many havent voted for a simple reason: They never thought to do so, and no one approached them about it before. They say they are unfamiliar with the American voting process and display tacit apathy. That makes them ripe for education and persuasion, and it explains why civic organizations across the country are working to engage them in politics, one voter at a time.
In Gwinnett County, outside Atlanta, the Asian population has grown more recently than in states such as California, Virginia and New York. Here, the grass-roots effort is slow and painstaking, relying on volunteers like Nguyen, proficient in eligible voters language and able to explain registration deadlines as well as the intersection of policy and everyday life.
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Gwinnett County is home to one of the three highest populations of Asian Americans mainly South Asians, Koreans, Chinese and Vietnamese.
That makes these Americans a potentially valuable slice of the electorate, able to make the difference in battleground states where margins of victory are slim.
AAAJ is part of a coalition of Asian American/Pacific Islander organizations directing civic engagement and voter outreach this year. The effort is ongoing in at least 25 states, tapping into existing community, faith, legal-aid and health organizations and creating local branches of national civic organizations in key areas such as Gwinnett County.
