Nevada Democrats open their door wider for AAPI voters

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For 2016, the Democratic Party sent teams to Las Vegas' Seafood City supermarket to register new AAPI voters.

With an acknowledgement of the growing Asian American electorate, the Nevada State Democratic Party released its plan outlining changes to Nevada’s caucus process in an effort to increase participation and rebuild trust with voters after the contentious presidential primaries in 2016.

Among the new outreach efforts to increase participation of new voters, the party will provide bilingual preference cards, the state party will also expand voting options and publish preference cards in  the Philippine dialect, Tagalog, and continue popular voting traditions like hosting caucuses locations on the Las Vegas Strip and also in diverse neighborhoods across the state as part of the new caucus plan.

“The Nevada State Democratic Party is creating a uniquely Nevada caucus process — one that reflects how Nevadans vote and the communities we live in,” Assemblyman Will McCurdy, the party’s chair, said in a statement.

The change is aimed at bringing Nevada’s rapidly growing Asian American and Pacific Islander community — which now comprises about 10 percent of the state’s population and is largely Filipino — into the fold.

Filipino Americans in Nevada are employed mostly as nurses, doctors, therapists and other healthcare professionals and as card dealers in casinos.

“Our goal has always been to increase our number of registered voters,” said Rozita Lee, a popular Filipino American community leader. “We can get the attention of Nevada’s political leaders when we have the numbers to show for.”

The state party’s proposed 2020 Delegate Selection Plan will include in-person early voting and offer several methods for absentee voters to participate, which the party hopes will make the process more accessible and open.

As part of the new plan, the party will add four days of in-person early voting, and two days to participate in a “virtual caucus” for people unable to attend on Caucus Day. Early voting and the virtual caucuses are both open to all registered Democrats.

“We all know how important Nevada’s First in the West caucus will be in 2020 and we are confident that we will elect a nominee who will beat Donald Trump in the general,” said  McCurdy.

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AAPI voters help Hillary to victory in Nevada

Hillary Clinton giving her victory speech after she was declared the winner in the Democratic primary.

NEVADA'S caucus staten was a real test of how the candidates are going to woo minority voters, who in that state made up almost 40 percent of the electorate. Asian/American voters approach almost 10 percent of Nevada's registered voters.

In the tight race for the Democratic nomination where every vote could spell the difference between a victory or a loss, both campaigns for Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, placed a heavy emphasis on outreach to Asian/American voters, the fastest growing segment of the population.

RELATED: Asian/Americans hard to find in New Hampshire & Iowa

Sanders' people were aggressive in their outreach to Latinos, the largest group of minority voters. They based their despite early claims of winning over Latinos on exit polls, highly unreliable. The New York Times analysis cast doubt on that claim asserting that Clinton could have won up to 60 percent of that demographic segment.

The Clinton campaign ran this ad in time for Chinese New Year's:

With every vote crucial, there was a heavy emphasis on the AAPI vote. All the campaign workers - even those from Sanders' camp - agreed that the Clinton campaign, with a robust staff in the state for months, has had the most sustained outreach with a series of Asian/American themed events: dinners celebrating a Filipno holiday, Asian/American-themed phone banks and canvasses and making use of ethnic media to reach out to AAPI communities.

RELATED: AAPI voters could be the margin of victory in Nevada

Clinton last month kicked off her national outreach to Asian-Americans with an event in Los Angeles' heavily Asian eastern suburbs with Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan. At a recent caucus training for Asian-American Democrats in Las Vegas, the Clinton campaign's national director of Asian-American and Pacific Islander outreach, Lisa Changaveja, mentioned that Clinton's longtime aide Huma Abedin and campaign finance chairman Dennis Cheng are both Asian/American.

Changaveja argued that the former secretary of state was uniquely positioned to appeal to Asian/Americans. "She's been in Thailand more than I have, and my mother lives in Thailand," Changaveja quipped.

Ameli, the Clinton campaign volunteer, sees Clinton as a natural fit. "Asians are very family-oriented and want everything for their families, and I believe everything Hillary is for, is for our families," she said.

RELATED: Clinton reaches out to AAPI voters

America’s Opportunity Fund (AOF) ran an ad in support of Hillary Clinton for President directed towards the Filipino community, a key voting constituency within the AAPI community and paid phone banking targeting the overall AAPI community at large.

“Filipino/Americans are the largest sub ethnic group of the AAPI community and they’re the fastest growing population in Clark County,” said AOF Executive Director Madalene Mielke. “Hillary recognizes the significance of the AAPI constituency in this “First of the West” primary state.”

After Latinos, Filipno/Americans make up the largest minority group in Clark County, home of Las Vegas and where 70 percent of the state's people live.

"People like to think of us as one monolithic group, but, of course, we're not," said Changadveja, the Clinton campaign's national outreach specialist tot he AAPI communities. "There's so many languages, so many communities, so many cultures, so what we've tried to do is identify leaders in each particular subgroup community to kind of step up and kind of lead the charge."

Ray Buenaventura, a city council member from Daly City, CA was in Las Vegas to help get out the vote. He Tweeted out these images:

One of the problems to reaching out to immigrants is that the state's caucus system is new to them and requires them to be active participants beyond simply casting a ballot behind a curtain.

"From the country we come from, we do not have caucus elections," said Marjie Gonzalez, who is from the Philippines and in charge of Asian outreach for Democrats in Nevada.

"The common attitude is, you know, we'll just wait in November and we'll vote for our candidate in November. But the candidate that you like may not reach November."

Overall, the turnout for the caucus may present a worry for the Democrats. Only 80,000 Democrats voiced their preference compared to 2012 when the presidential elections drew 120,000 Democrats. Of course, this was just a primary and the vote in November is expected to attract more attention and participation. 

RELATED: GOP has a new Southern strategy with immigrants as the new Willie Horton

In the meantime, Republican and Democratic campaign workers will be focusing in registering the eligible voters from Nevada's large immigrant population.

Republicans will hold their on Feb. 23 in Nevada, where frontrunner Donald Trump owns a casino and hotel in Las Vegas.

The Democratic candidates will face off again in South Carolina on Feb. 27 where Clinton holds a sizable lead, especially among African/American voters.

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

AAPI vote could be the margin of victory in Nevada

It is generally conceded that Hillary Clinton has had better outreach to the AAPI electorate. Above, Rep. Judy Chu introduces the candidate to a rally of Asian/American political activists last month. 

EVER WALK into a Nevada casino and notice the number of Asians working there? Waiters, cooks, servers, blackjack and poker dealers, security, maids, change makers, cab drivers - they are everywhere.

Filipinos are now the second largest minority group in Clark County where Las Vegas is located, behind Latinos. There are so many residents from Hawaii that they call the city The Ninth Island.

Asian/Americans comprise 6 percent of the U.S. population, and their numbers have increased 56 percent since 2000. In Nevada, Asian/Americans are 9 percent of the population.

“It’s a fast-growing population, it’s young, people are getting engaged,” said Shu-Yen Wei, who helps with Asian-American outreach for the Democratic National Committee. “That’s why people are interested.”

RELATED: Asian/Americans lean towards Democrats, Sanders

Asian/Americans comprise 6 percent of the U.S. population, and their numbers have increased 56 percent since 2000. In Nevada, AAPI are almost 10 percent of the state's population.

Since the closeness of the Democratic candidates is unexpectedly close, the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are scrambling for every vote. The AAPI vote could determine the outcome of the Feb. 20  Democratic caucus.

“Sanders is much more focused on the Latino community than the AAPI community”, said Emily Persaud, the Nevada state coordinator for the America Action campaign, a non-partisan group which campaigns for immigrants to take citizenship and then become involved in politics.

RELATED: AAPI PAC endorses Clinton

”This week Clinton activists announced a week of campaigning targeted at Asian Americans in Nevada, and the candidate has also received the endorsement of the Asian American political action committee CAPA21.

For many of Nevada's AAPI voters, this may be the first time to participate in a caucus. To help them, a coalition of AAPI organizations is holding a workshop on how the caucuses work. This training will give anyone intending to participate in either the Feb. 23 Republican or Feb. 20 Democratic caucuses hands-on, interactive practice to exercise your voice!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016
6 p.m.-8 p.m.

6330 Spring Mountain Road

Suite A

Las Vegas, NV 89146

RSVP→ bit.ly/nvcaucus

For more news of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, go to AsAm News.

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