It's happening now, AAPI voting power being diluted as voting rights bills stalled in Congress

Asian American voters were influential in a number of races in the 2020 elections.

Just as AAPI voters begin to flex their political muscles, Republicans are trying their best to diminish the influence the Asian Americans and Pacific Islander electorate exercised in recent elections.

Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote( is disappointed that debate on the Freedom to Vote Act has been blocked again in the Senate. A majority of Americans support the provisions in this bill, but a minority of Senators continue to block it.

“When Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders came out in historic numbers in 2020, we were able to do so because of options such as voting-by-mail and early voting," said Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) in a statement. 

"Now, however, 19 states have passed 33 laws this year alone that will make it harder for Americans to vote – many of which make a point to limit the voting options that allowed our communities to make a decisive impact last year in the first place. This is no coincidence. This is a direct attack on Asian and Pacific Islanders and other marginalized communities in an attempt to silence us.”

The 2020 federal election drew the United States’ highest voter turnout in more than a century, breaking records despite the Covid-19 pandemic and efforts to undermine the election process with the Big Lie of a stolen election," said a report from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank.

In a backlash to this historic voter participation, many state lawmakers have proposed and enacted legislation to make it harder for Americans to vote, justifying these measures with falsehoods steeped in racism about election irregularities and breaches of election security.

“For democracy to work for all of us, it must include us all – and this bill does that. It protects our freedom to vote, ensures fair representation, and limits the influence of big money in our politics; this bill will make our government accountable to the people,” continued APIAVote.

The Freedom to Vote Act, which is currently before the Senate, is a comprehensive package of voting, redistricting, and campaign finance reforms. It includes national standards for voting that would ensure access to the ballot across state lines. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which has passed in the House, would complement the Freedom to Vote Act.

The Brennan Center report goes on to point out that restrictive laws in four states — Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, and Texas — impose new or more stringent criminal penalties on election officials or other individuals. These new criminal laws will deter election officials and other people who assist voters from engaging in ordinary, lawful, and often essential tasks.

People in Georgia, where the registration of new AAPI voters helped give the GOP-controlled state to Biden and elect two Democratic Senators, can now be charged with a crime for handing out water or snacks to voters waiting in line at the polls.

In Iowa and Kansas, people could face criminal charges for returning ballots on behalf of voters who may need assistance, such as voters with disabilities. And in Texas, election officials could face criminal prosecution if they encourage voters to request mail ballots or attempt to prevent poll watchers’ intimidating behavior on voters or election department workers.

For example, Texas enacted S.B. 1, omnibus legislation that disproportionately burdens Latino, Black, and Asian voters and makes it harder for those who face language access barriers or who have disabilities to get help casting their ballots, reports the Brennan Center. The law also constrains election workers’ ability to stop harassment by poll watchers and bans 24-hour and drive-thru voting, among other measures. In a state where it was already hard to vote, S.B. 1 compounds the barriers faced by Texas voters. 

REDISTRICTING

Let's not mince words. It is the Trump-led Republicans who are providing the resistance to voting rights under the guise of the baseless allegation that they are protecting the election process from voter fraud.

And if they have their way, through the process of gerrymandering Congressional districts, they're hopeful that they can cheat their way to gaining the majority in the House and Senate in the 2022 mid-terms, thus assuring that the anti-voting laws stay in place.

Although the 2020 Census that Texas has grown more diverse over the last decade -- 95% of the state's population growth were people of color -- thus awarding the state two new Congressional districts, through newly drawn districts, Republicans have effectively turned back time by ensuring White majority rule that has controlled Texas since the Reconstruction. Thus, there are more majority-white districts and fewer Hispanic majority districts at the expense of the growing political power of Latino, Black and Asian voters in the cities and suburbs.

Districts like the 22nd in Fort Bend County and the 24th in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs had finally become competitive political battlegrounds in the last election cycle as multi-racial coalitions banded together almost electing Filipino American Gina Ortiz in the 22nd and Indian American Sri Preson Kulkarni in the 24th.

 “That was like a glimpse of the future of American politics. Very coalitional, very multi-racial,” says Michael Li, a redistricting lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice. But Republicans chose to dismantle those seats, packing diversifying areas into new deep-blue Democratic districts or adding them to GOP-held seats made whiter and redder by extending out into far-flung rural counties.

“Republicans are really scared of the suburbs because they’re becoming more diverse and because White voters in the suburbs aren’t as reliable for Republicans anymore and they’re not sure they’re getting it back anytime soon,” Li says.

This tactic of dividing Democratic districts, many of which have large numbers of constituencies of color is going on in other states: Georgia, Arizona, Michigan among others.

“We now urge the Senate to do whatever it takes to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and send it to President Biden’s desk," says APIAVote. "Time is running out, and passing vote rights legislation now is imperative.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, rips, raves and references from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.