Fears arise of efforts to intimidate or suppress AAPI voters

THE 2016 election season is coming down to the wire on both national and local elections. With so much at stake, 245 AAPI candidates running for office and driven by the most contentious presidential campaign in recent memory, the effort to push AAPI voters to register and to the polls has been extensive. 

It’s no secret that in preparation for this election has included many attempts to suppress voters of color—be it North Carolina’s alleged illegal cancellation of voter registrations or the threat of voter intimidation tactics by White supremacists in states such as Pennsylania. Now, officials in historically Republican states are allegedly using harmful—and sometimes illegal—tactics to keep the voters of color from swinging the states blue, reports NBC News.

As the fastest growing ethnic group in the country, AAPI have shown to be leaning towards the Democrats, mainly because of the anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from the GOP candidate for president, Donald Trump. The Latino voters, under the same reasoning, have moved even more to the left, according to some studies. African/American voters are almost entirely in the Democratic camp because of the racist views expressed by the Trump.

To counter the shift to the left by voters of color, several states have implemented laws that are making voting more difficult for minorities.

Responding to a wave of new state voter identification and proof of citizenship laws, the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund (AALDEF) will monitor more than 100 poll sites to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act and the Help America Vote Act.

 "In the 2012 elections, Asian/Americans had to overcome numerous obstacles to exercise their right to vote," said Jerry Vattamala, AALDEF Democracy Program Director. "AALDEF volunteers identified mistranslated ballots, interpreter shortages that led to Asian American voters being turned away, and poll workers who made hostile and racist remarks about Asian American voters. 

This Tuesday, Election Day, "AALDEF will guard against the disenfranchisement of new citizens and limited English proficient voters," said Vattamala.

The 42-year old nonpartisan organization will dispatch more than 800 attorneys, law students, and community volunteers to polling places in 14 states and Washington, DC to document voting problems in the 2016 elections.

These polling places are in areas with large numbers of newly-registered Asian American voters; jurisdictions in which Asian-language assistance is provided; and sites where Asian Americans have reported voting barriers or intimidation in recent elections. 

Attorneys will check whether Asian-language voting assistance has been provided (such as ballots, interpreters, signs and voting materials) and whether provisional ballots are offered to voters whose names are not in voter lists. Attorneys will report on whether voter identification requirements are implemented in a non-discriminatory manner.

Vattamala cited a 2016 AALDEF case in which a Texas election law was struck down under the Voting Rights Act because it improperly restricted access to interpreters, Vattamala said he received a complaint this week from an Asian/American voter improperly denied language assistance during early voting in Texas.

Multilingual volunteers will be at poll sites to take complaints from voters about election irregularities and other barriers to voting. Voters can also report Election Day problems to AALDEF's toll-free hotline at 800-966-5946, or by e-mail at votingrights@aaldef.org.

AALDEF is partnering with 121 national and local groups, law firms, and student associations to mobilize volunteers for Election Day.

New voting restrictions in 14 states have had a significant impact on minority voters. Courts have successfully struck down some of these regulations, but the threat to equal access to the ballot box remains. Given that this year’s election will be the first without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1964, it’s essential that voters who have historically faced discrimination at the polls can fulfill their civic duty with in-language assistance or help at the polls and without fear of intimidation.

“As we head into to the first presidential election since 1965 without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act, the 888-API-VOTE hotline is even more critical to protect and serve our electorate,” said Christine Chen, executive director of Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote). 

RELATED:

• Trump, Clinton commercials target AAPI voters
• AAPI volunteers sought for the elections
• AAPI candidates step into the spotlight
• Asian/Americans benefit from the Voting Rights Act
• GOP's new Southern Strategy targets immigrants

"This election hotline not only provides AAPI voters essential in-language assistance, but it also ensures that all voters, regardless of proficiency in English, will have equitable access to the ballot box,” said Chen.

Voting problems are occurring in states like Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Virginia and Ohio. In Texas, specifically, the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund won a court case last week (Oct. 28) ordering Bexar County election officials “to immediately remove all illegal voter ID signs that contained false information,” NBC News reports. In addition, the failure for officials to provide bilingual voting information on their websites violates the Voting Rights Act.

Efforts to ensure voter intimidation  or harassment isn't allowed is severely hampered this year because of a 2013 decision by the conservative-dominated U.S. Supreme Court that severely gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

As a result of that decision, in Shelby County v. Holder, the Justice Department will send observers only to jurisdictions where it already has court approval, according to the New York Times. That means only seven counties or jurisdictions in Alaska, California, Louisiana and New York will have Department of Justice observers.

“We do not want to be in the position we’re in,” Vanita Gupta, the top civil rights official at the DOJ, said in an interview. “There’s no doubt that we’re going to be spread thinner,” she added, “but our hope and our intention is that we are going to have a very robust monitoring program” on Election Day.

Hence, the need for independent observers and AAPI civil rights organizations are doing their best to step up to the plate.

“Ensuring that all voters know their rights at the polls is critical to their participation this November," said Mee Moua, executive director and president of Advancing Justice | AAJC.  As Asian Americans continue to grow in population, and turn out to vote, we must do everything we can to support their participation and make visible their political impact.”

Unless you've been living under a rock the last year, we've all heard Donald Trump claim that the elections are rigged and have asked his supporters to go to the polls to ensure that nothing "funny" is going on. 

A study by Professor Justin Levitt at Loyola University of the actual incidences of voter fraud from 2000 to 2014 pretty much debunked the claims of voter fraud. According to Levitt, there were only 31 cases of voter impersonation fraud during those years. There were more than a billion votes cast. Actual voter fraud is almost unheard of in the United States.

Despite the debunking of voter fraud, Trump's followers - if nothing else, - are passionate. Answering Trump's call, neo-Nazis, anti-government militias and white supremacists claim  to be sending "monitors" to the polls this Tuesday.

Dale Ho, director of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project. pointed out in a New York Times oped that a Trump supporter recently told The Boston Globe that he would racially profile “Mexicans. Syrians. People who can’t speak American.” And he wasn’t shy about what he’d do next: “I’m going to go right up behind them,” he said, and “make them a little bit nervous.”

"We’re witnessing merely the latest round of efforts to delegitimize and exclude minority and immigrant voters with baseless allegations of fraud. But our commitment to universal suffrage demands that every eligible voter who wants to vote has the chance, free from intimidation and harassment," wrote Ho.

"In this election, unnecessary barriers to the ballot and calls to racially profile voters are the real threats. Voter fraud is not."

###

The time is now! Register to vote

Actor Ken Jeong urges people to register to vote.

OCT. 24 is the deadline for registering to vote in California. 

Besides being the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S., Asian/Americans have the highest income and are the best educated – both factors that have traditionally produced high voter turnout.

However, as a voting bloc, Asian/Americans don’t. In fact, they have the lowest voter participation of any demographic group.

The growth of the ethnic group is mainly due to immigration meaning a large portion of AAAPIs are first-generation immigrants. One of the reasons for low voter turnout is the language barrier even though it is required that voter assistance should be given to anyone having difficulty with the ballot.

In 2014, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund received more than 340 complaints from Asian/Americans reporting problems voting. More than 1 in 5 of these grievances involved being asked to prove their U.S. citizenship in states that don’t require ID to vote. Generally, only a few people in those states would have to provide proof of citizenship.

Another common problem among Asian-American voters is mistakes with their names, causing them to not show up correctly on voter rolls. He said Asian-American names may be unusual to people entering the voter roll data.

This election cycle there has been an aggressive voter registration drive among Asian/Americans by the major parties and nonpartisan agencies.

The anti-immigrant and racist tenor of the rhetoric has also driven AAPI to register. It is still unclear how successful those efforts have been.

RELATED: Hateful rhetoric dries AAPI voters to the Democrats

AAPI celebrities have joined other celebrities by lending their time and names to the registration drives including Darren Criss and Jenna Ushkowitz

Because of the anti-immigrant rhetoric coming from the Trump camp, Asian/American voters have been steadily drifting towards the Democratic Party. This leftward movement has actually been happening over the past several presidential elections. A national survey in the spring by Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, a nonpartisan research group, showed “a significant leftward shift” since 2012 among Asian-American registered voters,

RELATED: AAPI voters lead towards Democrats

A majority of Asian-American voters – 55 percent overall – supported Al Gore in 2000, while John Kerry garnered 56 percent support from these communities in 2004. More recently, President Barack Obama was re-elected to the White House in 2012 racking up 73 percent of the 4 million Asian-American voters who cast ballots that November – up from the 62 percent support he received in 2008.

Fifteen percent identified as Republican.

The Clinton campaign and Democratic Party have been the most aggressive in wooing the AAPI vote and appointing them to highly visible roles, including long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who has been by the candidates side since her days in the Senate.

RELATED: Clinton targeting AAPI voters

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has a resident staff member in Las Vegas dedicated to Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. Staff members and volunteers here speak Chinese, Korean, Hindi and Tagalog. The campaign has recently been conducting native language training on how to use voting machines in a local Chinese cultural center. Volunteers are sent to court supporters in Buddhist temples.

Comedian Aziz Ansari who stars in the Netflix hit Master of None, aims his PSA at the undecided voters.

Although the number of AAPI voters is comparatively small, 4-6 percent, in some states and cities, such as swing-states Nevada and Virginia, they make up a larger percentage and could be determining factors in the vote outcome.

In California, people can register to vote online.

Once registered, go out and vote this November.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: 90 seconds to register to vote

DWAYNE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON is perhaps the most visible Pacific Islander American in the country so he's is joining the ranks of celebrities that are encouraging people—especially young ones—to go out and vote.

The Rock, took a break from filming Jumanji in Hawaii and enlisted his production team at Seven Bucks Production to create a song that explains why registering to vote takes no time at all (which is why everyone should do it). "Did you know it takes approximately a minute and 34 seconds to register to vote? Ninety-four seconds to register to vote," The Rock says to the camera.

RELATED:

• Obama exhorts AAPI to be more involved
• It's paramount to get more AAPI to the polls
• Is the Asian American vote being ignored?

The AAPI community is the worse demographic in getting eligible voters to go to the polls. During this cycle, numerous community-based organizations have launched registration drives, developed video PSA's, created multi-lingual literature to get out the voters.

There are more immigrants coming from across the Pacific than from South of the Border and a recent Pew study shows that Asians are expected to surpass Latinos as the largest immigrant group in the U.S.

Speaking before the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies earlier this year, Obama cited the need for a better representation of AAPI in the political process. "The AAPI community is the fastest-growing minority in America, but it’s still ..." and here he was interrupted with applause ... "well, that's good to cheer about, but it's still significantly underrepresented at the ballot box.  In 2012, just 56 percent of eligible AAPI voters were registered to vote. And fewer than half of those registered actually voted. So if you’re upset with America’s immigration policy, but you’re not voting -- that has to change."

TGIF FEATURE: Celebrities fight voter apathy

Writer and producer Joss Whedon was able to convince some of his Hollywood friends to be in his video.

JOSS WHEDON has slain vampires, battled super villains, fought off aliens and saved the universe but he may be tackling his biggest villain yet - voter apathy.

To help him on this daunting task, he's assembled his own team of Avengers to appear on the PSA debuted by Save the Day, a video production company dedicated to getting people registered to vote and to the ballot box on November 8. 

“It’s about getting people to vote, because it’s frightening the apathy that people are treating the most crucial election of their lifetimes with,” Whedon told The Hollywood Reporter. 

The creator of Buffy, the Vampire Killer, Firefly and Marvel's Avengers franchise launched the first video Important Wednesday (Sept. 21) featuring 27 celebrities — including Avengers Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, and Mark Ruffalo, as well as other famous people like Randall Park, Julianne Moore, Keegan-Michael Key, Matt McGorry, James Franco, Jesse Williams, Cobie Smulders, Martin Sheen, and Neil Patrick Harris. He plans on 15 to 25 more before the November elections.

While the first video never mentions Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton or Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump by name, in it, Cheadle stresses the importance of keeping “a racist, abusive coward who could permanently damage the fabric of our society” out of office. And Hamilton’s Leslie Odom Jr. wonders aloud why we’d want to “give nuclear weapons to a man whose signature move is firing things.” 

In short, Whedon’s super PAC makes no secret that they would prefer people vote for Clinton.The prospect of a Trump presidency makes him break out in a sweat, he told BuzzFeed.

“We’re going to anger a lot of people, I’m sure,” he continued.

Save the Day makes its mandate clear with its position statement, posted in bold so it’s the first thing you absorb when you visit the site. “We are a short-form production company dedicated to the idea that voting is a necessary and heroic act,” it reads. “That every voice in this wonderfully diverse nation should, and must, be heard. That the only thing that can save democracy is the act that defines it. We are committed to fighting the apathy, cynicism, and honest confusion that keeps citizens from using their vote. And to reminding an increasingly out-of-touch and compromised set of representatives that they are answerable to the people they were hired to serve.”

Whedon's effort is similar to the PSA produced by Asian Americans Advancing Justice targeting the AAPI community with Asian;American celebrities making the same appeal.

This PSA was made possible in partnership with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Imprenta Communications Group, The Great Company, and Asian Pacific American Leadership Foundation.

Have questions or need help voting? Call 1-888-API-VOTE (1-888-274-8683). Bilingual assistance is available in English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

• Register to vote. 
• http://apiavote.org/learn. 
• Share this video using this link. 

#VoiceYourVote: This year, be sure to uplift #AAPIVoices and make your voice heard by registering to vote and voting in the elections

###

AAPI volunteers sought for November election

AALDEF

AALDEF volunteers have been monitoring key election polls in recent elections.

ONE OF THE signature projects of the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund is the Election Day monitoring and Asian American exit poll. 

"We're still looking for nonpartisan volunteers in 14 states to monitor polling places in the 2016 elections to be sure that all eligible Asian Americans can exercise their right to vote on Nov. 8," said AALDEF executive director Margaret Fung.  "Join us for a training session, and then help us to protect voting rights on Election Day!"

Although relatively small in number, in some key states, Asian/American voters could possibly be the difference-maker this November. The states AALDEF is targetting are: California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

There is a fear that some states will use some tactics that will suppress voter turnout of people of color, ie. purposely having fewer polling places resulting in hours-long lines, asking for additional identification, proof of address or citizenship or just having some unsavory characters hanging around polling places trying to intimidate would-be voters.

Following is from the AALDEF website:

In past elections, Asian Americans have faced a series of barriers in exercising their right to vote, including segregated "Asian" voting lines. When the news media reported on election results, Asian Americans were often overlooked. In response, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) has conducted a non-partisan exit poll of Asian American voters to document Asian American voting patterns and document instances of anti-Asian voter disenfranchisement. 

AALDEF has monitored the elections for compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act, which mandates bilingual ballots and forbids anti-Asian voter discrimination. In the 2012 elections, 850 volunteers polled 9,096 Asian American voters in 14 states and Washington, DC.

We are recruiting volunteers in the following states to work in 3-hour shifts on Election Day:
California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington, DC.

There will be a one-hour training session for all volunteers in October (90 minutes for CLE credits). All AALDEF volunteers must be non-partisan during the time they are at polling places on Election Day. Please complete the form at www.aaldef.net and join us in protecting voting rights. Thank you!

For more information, contact:

• Jerry Vattamala, Democracy Program Director
• Iris Zalun, Voting Rights Organizer
• 800-966-5946 
• votingrights@aaldef.org

### 

4-way Presidential Town Hall highlights journalists' confab (Update with video)

Filipino/American clarifies Trump's statements about the Philippines

From top left, clockwise, Bill Clinton, Gary Johnson, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and Jill Stein
spoke at the AAJA/APIAVote Presidential Town Hall.

A SURROGATE for Donald Trump tried to clarify the GOP's presidential nominee's comments last week about banning immigration from the Philippines. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes, a Filipino/American, told a large crowd of Asian/American community leaders and journalists that he had received permission to explain Trump's comments.

The Democrats, meanwhile, was represented by former President Bill Clinton in the Presidential Town Hall held Friday (Aug. 12) at the Asian American Journalists Convention in partnership with AAPIVote. Also addressing one of the largest gatherings of AAPI people was Libertarian presidential candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and Green Party bet Jill Stein.

Reyes, who is of Filipino descent, said that when Trump suggested that the Philippine immigration should be under extra scrutiny because terrorists had taken root there, he was referring to the “terrorist elements that do exist in the Philippines,” not the country as a whole.

RELATED: 

• Trump says he would limit immigration from the Philippines
• Filipino/American anger mounts against Trump statements
• Legislators, community leaders react to panl to ban immigration from the Philippines

“What Mr. Trump was trying to communicate, and I have the full authority to make this clarification, is that he welcomes law-abiding Filipinos who want to come and have a better life and better opportunities, whether they want to live here or send money back to the Philippines,” Reyes said.

Knowing he was speaking to an audience that was already leaning towards Clinton, Reyes spent most of his speech trying to build bridges.

"We may not agree on everything. Some of you ... might not agree on anything,” Reyes said. "But it’s important we come and listen, with humility and respect.”

He said that he wasn’t always a supporter of Trump, and he doesn’t agree with everything he says. However, he said that Trump would eliminate many of the regulations that impact Asian-American small businesses and fight affirmative action in colleges, which he said unfairly targets AAPI students.

“Mr. Trump believes in America first, no exceptions,” Reyes said.

Clinton's speech explained Hillary Clinton's policies would help small businesses, implement comprehensive immigration reform, and support quality, affordable education and immigration.

However, he said, the election is referendum on what kind of nation we want to be.

"E pluribus Unum means expanding our definition of 'us' and shrinking our definition of 'them' -- not the other way around," he said. "The metaphor of this election may be walls or bridges."

Johnson touched on a host of issues, according to the Las Vegas Sun, from supporting the legalization of marijuana to starkly opposing any new taxes. He called free trade the “opposite of crony capitalism,” saying that it was devoid of government interference.

He said his support is growing and according to polls, he could garner 15 percent of the vote allowing him to participate on the three scheduled debates.

Stein, meanwhile, lost her bid to be placed on the Nevada ballot a few hours before the forum. 

She talked about how the environment was a crucial issue for Asian and Pacific Island countries due to rising sea levels attributed to climate change. She said if she was president, she would introduced policies that would pay for clean energy technologies by cutting spending on health care because a cleaner environment would be a healthier environment.

The historic four-way, three and one-half hour Presidential Town Hall was the highlight of the Asian American Journalists Association's National Convention held at Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas.

APIAVote data shows that Asian Americans, though far from monolithic, increasingly identify as Democrats and have been turned off by exclusionary rhetoric from Republican candidates.

If you want to  listen to almost four-hour entire town hall, watch the video below. (Earlier versions of this post did not include the video.)

###

GOP wants to highlight diversity at its convention, but ...

UH OH. The GOP National Convention kicks off today (Monday, July 18) and before it starts it is already off to a rocky start and organizers are scrambling.

Wall Street Journal reporter Byron Tau couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the sign at the convention center in Cleveland. It read, "White Elevators." conjuring up images of Jim Crowism when signs were placed all over the south designating White Only drinking fountains, White Only restrooms and White Only entrances to restaurants and businesses.

In the middle of all the chaos is an Asian/American, Marcia Lee Kelly, who has been in Cleveland for a year organizing the Republicans' national conclave.

No one seems to know who put up the sign but Kelly is making sure it is being replaced. The best explanation is this tweet:

Hmmm. Do you buy that?

But the White Elevator kerfuffle is minor compared to what Kelly has to contend with: 2,470 delegates, more than 50,000 guests and about 15,000 members of the media, including a large international press corps. Various groups — from right-wing activists, some swear to tote their guns in this open-carry state, to left-wing anarchists — also have vowed to show up in a city still seething from the 2014 fatal police shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African /American boy with a pellet gun.

Marcia Lee Kelly

“We live in a volatile, somewhat dangerous world right now and we’re determined to make sure our guests and the city of Cleveland are safe,” Kelly told the L.A. Times. “You worry about what you can control. I write everything down. We start meetings on time. I always have an agenda. Always have next steps. It’s weird but the more intense things get, the calmer I get.”

RELATED: GOP'S' 2016 Southern Strategy

After releasing the initial list of speakers, it was pointed out that there was only one person of color among the scores of speakers -- Sen. Ted Cruz, who is half-Cuban. A day later, five speakers were added, including Lisa Shin, an Asian/American optometrist and founder of Korean-Americans for Trump.  The other speakers -- Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, TV personality Pat Smite, Senate candidate Daryl Glenn, Jamiel Shaw, father of a slain gang member, Pastor Mark Burns and Dr. Ben Carson, a former rival who has endorsed Trump -- are all African/American. 

It is likely that more speakers of color will be added -- think Omarosa, the African/American businesswoman who was a contestant on Trump's reality show, The Apprentice, and who has been just been appointed as Trump's African/American Outreach director.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will be attending after all after initially saying she hadn't made up her mind about going. She drew Trump's ire when she publicly criticized Trump's anti-immigrant and inflammatory rhetoric, once during the Republican response to the President Obama's State of the Union address and again, when she endorsed Trump's political rival Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. 

RELATED: Gov. Nikki Haley bets against Trump, endorses Rubio

For now, Haley is not on the speaker's list, but for diversity's sake, she might still get an invite. Until Trump has the nomination in the bag, Haley was seen as the future of the GOP in its attempt to broaden its appeal to minorities. That strategy, apparently, has all but been abandoned.

Expect the TV cameras to zero in on all the minorities in the audience to give the appearance of diversity even though the 2016 convention is expected be whiter than usual, even by GOP standards. Why do the networks do that? Are they under control of the GOP? If their job is to report the truth, then show the convention as it really is. Why focus on the few minority delegates when the overwhelming number of delegates are white?

Outside of a few Asian/American entrepreneurs who admire Trump's reputed business acumen, don't expect to see many AAPI delegates -- not after he mocked Indian/Americans and Chinese/Americans by attempting to speak English in their respective accents and called for a complete ban on Muslim immigration.

RELATED: Asian/Americans lean towards the Democrats

According to a survey conducted this Spring by three Asian/American organizations, only 19 percent of Asian Americans hold a favorable view of the presumptive Republican nominee, while 61 percent view him unfavorably.

As recently as the last decade, political pundits thought the Asian/American community would be the most likely ethnic group to vote for Republicans. The increasingly anti-immigrant positions taken by the GOP has pushed AAPI voters towards the Democrats. Asian Americans have also taken the racist language and positions into consideration, even when it is not directed at them.

RELATED: Asian/Americans are well aware of xenophobic rhetoric

The swing towards the Democrats has been growing over the last two Presidential elections. While just 35 percent of Asian Americans identified as Democrats in 2012, 47 percent do so today; those identifying as Republicans have declined slightly from 18 percent in 2012 to 15 percent in 2016, within the survey's margin of error.

If Kelly's claim is true -- that she really does get calmer as the situation gets more intense -- by the end of this week, she could be so calm, it would take an elephant stampede to awaken her.

###

For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

Is the Asian/American vote being ignored?

CNN's John King

THANK YOU John King. The CNN analyst was going over the election results last night and he was the only commentator to mention the Asian/American vote in the California primary. "The Asian vote is the fastest growing vote in the country," he said. In the last few years, the rate of growth has "matched the Latino vote."

Besides King's brief mention, I don't believe there was anybody on television talked about the role the Asian/American electorate played in the state's primary election.

Despite our best efforts on Views From the Edge and at the news site, AsAm News, there is the general impression that the Asian/American vote is being overlooked by mainstream media.

Where are the long analytical articles from mainstream media? Where are the Asian/American pundits on the Sunday talk shows?

RELATED: Candidates battle for AAPI vote

Oh, there were a couple of articles by the L.A. Times that looked at the AAPI demographic but the San Francisco Bay Area media, with one of the highest concentrations of AAPI in California, didn't take a second look.

Give credit to the Hillary Clinton campaign. They were wooing the AAPI vote almost from the beginning. She formed an AAPI for Hillary group in California and they set the groundwork for on-the-ground outreach to the community and appointed an outreach director to the AAPI community. She hit all the right buttons of family reunification, education, and immigration reform.

Support from AAPI voters helped her in Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and California. The AAPI vote is helping change Orange County in California from a traditional bastion of conservatism to a Democratic county.

RELATED: Clinton targets the AAPI vote in California

An overwhelming majority of Asian voters came out for President Obama in 2012. They voted for him at a higher rate than most other demographics, even ones we think of as traditionally Democrat like women and Latinos.

But nearly half of Asian/American voters aren’t officially affiliated with any party. Their votes were essentially up for grabs but the hateful rhetoric coming from the Republicans pushed a lot of the unaffiliated AAPI voters towards the Democrats.

Orange County, once the bastion of Reagan conservatism, is undergoing a political shift with the large number of AAPI voters exerting their political muscle.

RELATED: Ro Khanna edges incumbent Mike Honda

In the heart of Silicon Valley, how did Santa Clara County's AAPI voters divide themselves when they had to choose between two Asian/American candidates for Congress, Rho Khanna and incumbent Rep. Mike Honda?

Why is frontrunner for U.S. Senate, California Attorney General Kamala Harris, always identified by media as a "black" when her Indian/American mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, raised her daughters by herself after divorcing their father? 

RELATED: Kamala Harris seeks to make history

There are more immigrants coming from across the Pacific than from South of the Border and a recent Pew study shows that Asians are expected to surpass Latinos as the largest immigrant group in the U.S.

So the question was raised by Fusion: Why is hardly anyone talking about the Asian vote?

###

For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.

Candidates battle for Asian/American vote in California's primary

Hillary for America

Hillary Clinton his all the right buttons with her AAPI California supporters.

ASIAN/AMERICANS are used to being on the fringe, inconsequential, ignored or rendered invisible. It's not a position that we like -- it's just the way it is. That's why I named this blog "Views From the Edge."

What's exciting, though, is that we may be in the throes of a change that may alter the way the AAPI community is viewed by political insiders. Nowhere is the shift into the spotlight more evident than in the California primary, which is happening June 7 and will continue through the November elections.

On the eve of the California primary, polls show Hillary Clinton leading Democratic rival Bernie Sanders by a mere 2 percentage points - statistically, a dead heat. One poll shows Sanders ahead by one percentage point.

Donald Trump has his supporters among the AAPI community as well but a report from Asian Americans Advancing Justice found that most AAPI voters have moved from the "declined to state" category - a growing segment of the Asian/American voters - towards the Democrats during this presidential campaign because of the hateful anti-immigrant - and frankly, racist- rhetoric coming from Trump, the GOP's presumptive nominee.

RELATED: Hateful rhetoric drives AAPI voters to the Democrats

An April survey by the non-partisan Asian-American Pacific Islander DATA of all Democratic and Republican candidates found Clinton the first choice of 33 percent of likely Asian voters in California and Sanders second at 21 percent. 

RELATED: AAPI voters lean towards Democrats

"If Hillary Clinton barely wins California, the Asian/American community will be critical to that victory," said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a professor of politics at UC Riverside who helped oversee the poll.

California has the most Asian/Americans of any state in the country - a little over 6.1 milliion. AAPI make up between 12 to 15 percent of the electorate depending on which polls you're reading.

“With our growing numbers, our political influence correspondingly increases, but it is up to our community to show the political establishment that we can deliver at the ballot box,” California state treasurer John Chiang said in the statement sent to The Daily Caller.

Days before the primary, Hillary Clinton received the endorsements of two key Asian/American organizations: the fledgling AAPI Victory Fund and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Leadership PAC, the latter including representatives from California.

RELATED: AAPI Congress members support Clinton

In a press release, the AAPI Victory Fund announced its rejection of the xenophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric embraced by the presumptive Republican nominee.

This is the Victory Fund’s first endorsement and it will ensure that Asian Americans and Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters play a pivotal role in securing Secretary Clinton’s victory in the California presidential primary.

“We repudiate the racial, ethnic and religious prejudices espoused by the presumptive Republican nominee. By mobilizing the AAPI electorate across the state on June 7th, we will ensure Secretary’s Clinton victory in California,”  said Dilawar Syed, co-founder and vice chair of the AAPI Victory Fund.

AsAm News photo

Bernie Sanders answers questions from a panel in an AAPI gathering in Palo Alto, California.

The two latest endorsements join a growing list of AAPI political organizations – including CAPA21, America’s Opportunity Fund, and KAYA: Filipino Americans for Progress – that have endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

The issue of immigration seems to be the No. 1 issue pulling AAPI voters away from the edge of invisibility. There are more Asians immigrating to the U.S. than people coming from Latin America, including Mexico. Immigration and the birthrate will push the AAPI community past the African/American community by 2065. The number of eligible voters will double by 2040.

But the growing influence and prominence of AAPI can't wait another 20 years to gain attention of the political power brokers. Many AAPI organizations are busy registering their neighbors to vote to have an impact now - tomorrow (June 7) and in November.

Clinton's campaign began wooing the AAPI vote by attending the launch of AAPI for Hillary last year.  Besides the congressional representatives backing, the campaign locked up the endorsements of most of California's AAPI local elected officials while Sanders was focusing on the early primaries. The campaign launched PSA's in various Asian languages recognizing the diversity of the AAPI community.

RELATED: Clinton targeting AAPI voters

But the last two weeks, Sanders has been relentless in his campaigning in California showing that he too has AAPI support, especially among Millennials. He still draws huge passionate crowds -- from the Central Valley to the urban centers on the coast. He emphasizes his family's immigrant roots and his usual talking points -- free college, punish the 1 Percent -- are appealing to younger Asians.

Sanders aggressive campaigning might be working. A University of Southern California/Los Angeles Times poll released on June 3 showed Sanders with a one-percentage-point lead over Clinton in the state, 44 to 43 percent, a swing from March when Clinton held a nine-point edge.

“We (National Nurses United) are for Bernie because Bernie is for the real people, the 99 percent," said Zenei Cortez, a member of the National Nurses United union and a Bernie Sanders delegate for California Congressional District 14.  At the Palo Alto forum, she said, "Bernie shares the same values as the nurses. We are all about caring, compassion, and community, just like what Bernie is doing.”

Clinton supporters may be nervous at Sanders apparent success in siphoning of some of Clinton's  lead in minority communities. “If Clinton’s internal numbers were strong, she would likely spend more time interacting with donors and holding fewer, bigger rallies in preparation for the general election against Trump,” said Jennifer Walsh, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Azusa Pacific University.

“However, her efforts in recent days to connect with voters in much smaller, more rural areas suggest that she needs a large Democratic turnout next week,” said Walsh, “and is doing all that she can to rally voters.”

A Bill Clinton appearance in Los Angeles last month paid homage to Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month. On Saturday (June 4), he visited Inglewood and Compton, both cities with majority-minority populations. Hillary Clinton campaigned in Oakland and East Los Angeles Sunday. The day before the primary, Hillary and Bill Clinton have nine events in northern and southern California in Long Beach, Hayward, Antioch, Richmond, Long Beach, all communities with heavy minority populations.

In addition, the Clinton campaign has held events at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles and Garden Grove, home to a large Vietnamese/American community.

Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, said Clinton “seems to be targeting communities that are both diverse and more working class, where there are large numbers of Democrats or Democratic-leaning voters who vote more occasionally.”

Sanders, meanwhile, is depending on a series of free concerts to draw tens of thousands of people. He will culminate his California campaigning Monday (June 6) with a free concert expected to draw thousands to Chrissy Field in San Francisco.  Guests include Dave Matthews, Fantastic Negrito, Fish, Danny Glover and Dr. Cornel West. The concert is supposed to start around 3:30 p.m. RSVPs are strongly encouraged. 

RELATED: Celebrities urge AAPI voters to go to the polls

Besides the major political parties, a host of AAPI organizations - partisan and nonpartisan - are out in the streets registering AAPI voters. That voter drive will continue until the November elections.

"The 2016 election cycle will be the largest mobilization of AAPIs in civic engagement," wrote Christine Chen and Carolyn DeWitt in for NBC. Chen is the executive director of APIAVote and Carolyn DeWitt is COO of Rock the Vote. 

"An unprecedented number of AAPI organizations and community leaders are coming together to ensure we effectively register and engage AAPI voters. We look not to the distant future for this community to grow, but to today and tomorrow — AAPIs are taking action, are organizing, and are prepared for the now."

###

For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.