Voting for Change – Why does it Work?

Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service

As the March primary election approaches, Ethnic Minority Media (EMS) invited representatives of community leaders to hold an online meeting on the Feb 23rd to share the significance of minority voting.

Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial or ethnic voting group in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. Community organizing to achieve specific gains for neighborhoods and disadvantaged populations is often linked to efforts to register and turn out low-propensity voters.

There are a few reasons for that: The practice of knocking on doors and actively engaging with communities, fundamental to successful labor and community organizing, is equally crucial in electoral mobilization.

Also, demonstrating how electoral participation directly connects to tangible outcomes including electing policymakers who will help/defend gains or changing a policy maker who doesn’t- serves as a powerful means to illustrate to individuals that their votes matter.

Debbie Chen, Executive vice president of Asian Pacific American Advocates (OCA) in Houston, said that when Chinese people exercise their right to vote, they are deciding how to use “money” and how to use funds in areas that benefit the Chinese people. She said that “money” is important to everyone, and voting is to decide how funds are allocated, such as whether to build schools, build roads, and whether it can make the community better.

Anneshia Hardy, Executive Director of Alabama Values described the strategies the organization used to mobilize voters to turn out, including conveying the concept that voting is not just about electing leaders, but about the future of the community. She encouraged social media, local news outlets to promote voting rights through storytelling. She urged everyone to vote in the March primary election, which will determine the candidates’ names to appear on the November ballot.

Also Read: National Asian Pacific Center on Aging