Bee Nguyen concedes in race for Georgia's Secretary of State

Bee Nguyen sought to become Georgia's Secretary of State.

Overshadowed by races that garnered national attention, Bee Nguyen, running against the incumbent Secretary of State, conceded late Tuesday night.

In a tweet, Democratic candidate Nguyen said about 11:30 p.m. that she had conceded to Republican Brad Raffensperger, who was in the national spotlight in 2020 when he refused Donald Trump's arm-twisting to "find" enough votes to deliver the state's electoral votes to the Republican after then-candidate Joe Biden turned Georgia blue.

Raffensperger, who gained national attention in the wake of the 2020 presidential election controversy, was leading in his bid to win re-election Tuesday in the state’s 2022 midterms.

At presstime Wednesday morning, Raffensperger was leading Vietnamese American Nguyen, a former state lawmaker with 53% of the vote to Nguyen’s 43%.

Nguyen, who worked closely with gubernatorial challenger Stacey Abrams, said, "I'm grateful to be in a race where we can have a phone call and wish each other well."

Elsewhere in Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp was successful in staving off Democrat Stacey Abrams' bid to unseat him by gaining 54% of the vote vs. 46% for Abrams.

The other high-profile race in the state was for Democratic US Senator Raphael Warnock's seat who was being challenged by football legend Herschel Walker., a Republican. With each  candidate failing to win over 50% of the votes, the contest may be headed for a run-off in four weeks.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Judge Affirms AAPI Voters Can Hold Government Accountable for Violating Their Right to Vote

Asian American and Pacific Islander voters went to the polls in 2020 to help Georgia
elect Democrat Joe Biden as President.

Motions to dismiss a lawsuit by Asian American voters challenging a sweeping anti-voting bill passed earlier this year by Georgia’s GOP-controlled state legislature were dismissed Dec. 9 by a Georgia court.

“Instead of doing their duty as our elected representatives and helping everyone participate in our democracy, politicians are attempting to silence me, my family, and my community,” said Angie Tran, a plaintiff in this case along with her mother. 

“As a limited English speaking voter who is also a caregiver, my mother relies on absentee mail-in voting to make fully informed decisions.” Angie’s mother is among the 33% Asian Americans in Georgia who are limited English proficient and, like many voters, is impacted by the barriers erected by Senate Bill 202.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia rejected Dec. 9  attempts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Asian American Advancing Justice and seven other lawsuits challenging Georgia’s new voter suppression law, SB 202.

Among other provisions, SB 202 shortens the window to apply for and receive mail-in ballots, limits access to secure drop boxes, forces voters to satisfy unnecessary ID requirements before voting by mail, prohibits election officials from proactively mailing ballot applications to registered voters, and criminalizes certain assistance with ballot applications. These efforts to restrict remote voting undermine the ability of Georgia’s AAPI voters to participate in the democratic process. 

Multiple Republican committees, Georgia state and county officials sought to dismiss the lawsuits, raising various arguments challenging the standing and merits of the cases’ claims. The court rejected every single motion to dismiss, holding that each set of plaintiffs had standing to bring their claims and had sufficiently pleaded each claim. All eight lawsuits will move forward and claims against S.B. 202 will be litigated to determine if the law violates the U.S. Constitution and/or the Voting Rights Act.

In the November 2020 election, approximately 40% of Georgian AAPI voters cast their ballots remotely, compared to about 26% of all voters, said AAAJ in a press release.

“My son was born in October 2020, and in November, I voted for the first time as a father. I knew that my child’s future was on the ballot. And I wasn’t alone. Asian American voters doubled our turnout from the 2016 election because we know that who we elect directly impacts the well-being of our families and communities. Asian American families in Georgia insist that our voices be heard,” added Deepum Patel, another plaintiff in the case.

Since 2010, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta (Advancing Justice-Atlanta), which is both a plaintiff and counsel in the lawsuit, has helped Georgians vote and participate in elections, including by supporting thousands of voters who speak Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, and Spanish. Recent studies have shown that mail-in ballot options and access to drop boxes help people with limited English proficiency, newly naturalized citizens, and first-time voters increase their participation in democratic processes.

The AAPI vote was critical in Georgia in 2020. AAPI community groups worked to register eligible voters and get them to the polls, helping turn the GOP-controlled state towards the Democrats. AAPI voters trend towards to the Democrats nationally and overwhelmingly voted for Joe Biden for President. AAPI participation was also credited to help elect the state's two U.S. Senators, both Democrats.

“In 2022, the Asian American electorate will play a decisive role in deciding who governs both our state and country. We are committed to ensuring our communities have an equal and fair say in determining our future,” said Phi Nguyen, Executive Director of Advancing Justice-Atlanta. “The Court’s ruling moves us one step closer to defeating the attacks on communities of color, including immigrant and limited English proficient voters.”

ASIAN AMERICAN ADVOCACY FUND

The suit was filed in April by civil rights organizations, Advancing Justice-Atlanta, Advancing Justice-AAJC, Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, and pro bono counsel Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP. 

New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund, Georgia NAACP, the Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Arc Georgia, Concerned Black Clergy of Metropolitan Atlanta, and the Latino Fund Community of Georgia also filed legal challenges against SB 202 for its targeted attacks on Black and Brown voters and voters with disabilities. All of these cases also survived motions to dismiss by the defendants.

“The Court’s ruling enables us to move forward towards securing equitable ballot access for all voters in Georgia, including AAPI voters,” said attorney Connie Sung of Keker, Van Nest and Peters. “We are confident the evidence will show that SB 202 is unlawful and cannot stand.”

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

Asian American legal advocates file suit vs. Georgia's voting law

Asian Americans were made their votes count in the 2020 and 2021 elections in Georgia.

It is fairly obvious that Georgia Republicans are afraid of losing it's dominance and influence in the Peach state. Hence, the new voting law passed which critics say makes it harder to vote.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta, Advancing Justice -AAJC and Advancing Justice -Asian Law Caucus, along with pro bono counsel, Keker, Van Nest, & Peters, filed a lawsuit to ensure that Asian American voters in Georgia will have the freedom to vote equally in elections.

“Asian Americans turned out in record numbers, alongside other communities of color, in a safe and fair election in both the 2020 presidential election and the 2021 runoff elections in Georgia,” said Phi Nguyen, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta’s Litigation Director. “We won’t let them shut the door on us after all our efforts to enliven our democracy."

The civil rights groups charge that SB 202, Georgia’s sweeping anti-voting bill, erects unconstitutional barriers intended to silence Asian American voters. SB 202 shortens the window to apply for mail-in ballots; restricts access to secure drop boxes; forces voters to satisfy onerous, unnecessary ID requirements before voting by mail; and prohibits elections officials from proactively mailing ballot applications to registered voters.

The lawsuit, filed by AAAJ-Atlanta, is the fourth court challenge to the voting law since Gov. Brian Kemp signed it on March 24.

The three other pending lawsuits contesting Georgia’s voting law were filed by the NAACP, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the New Georgia Project and several other organizations.

Georgia's new voting law is part of a national strategy of the GOP to make voting more difficult, primarily because Republicans believe they have a better chance at winning  when voting turnout is low.

Republicans, masters of wordsmithing, describe their efforts as ensuring the security of the vote against voter fraud, something that is almost nonexistent in the U.S.; or at the very most, barely negligible. There is no other way to describe this effort other than anti-democratic, at best; or at worst, voter suppression. Critics have called it Jim Crow reborn, referring to that period in the U.S. history in the 1950s-1960s prior to the 1965  Voting Rights Act, when southern lawmakers put in place laws that prevented Black voters from casting their ballots.

"The majority of Asian Americans in Georgia voted by mail during the 2020 general elections, and the politicians who drafted this bill intentionally targeted our community’s preferred voting method," said Nguyen. "These deliberate barriers will disproportionately harm Asian American voters, many of whom already face barriers due to limited English proficiency and dearth of translated voting materials. We should be making it easier, not harder, to vote.”

Asian American voters came voted in record numbers in 2020 and 2021 and helped turn the traditional Republican stronghold into a purple state, giving the state's electoral votes to Democrat Joe Biden and voting in two Democratic U.S. Senators.

“This bill is not only an attack on Asian Americans,” said Stephanie Cho, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta’s Executive Director, “it’s an attack on all Americans who cherish democracy and freedom. 

Republican lawmakers changed voting rules after Democrats won 2020 and 2021 statewide races thanks to strong turnout among Black voters.

"The bill drafters aimed for communities of color, but every community will have restricted access to voting and democratic participation will be diminished across all of Georgia. This bill attempts to undo the work of grassroots organizers, advocates, and voters who turned out in record numbers to make their voices heard. 

"This reactionary, racist, and backwards bill is a stain on Georgia, the beating heart of the Civil Rights movement. We won’t go back - we will fight them in the courts to make sure all voices are heard,” Cho added.

“The Asian American community will not be silenced. Not by the wave of anti-Asian violence that threatens the safety and security of our friends and family; and not by SB 202, which seeks to restrict our constitutional right to vote,” said Candice Mai Khanh Nguyen of Keker, Van Nest, & Peters.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution. Views From the Edge presents news articles  laced with opinion. Readers are encouraged to read other news outlets to form their own opinion.

Georgia On My Mind: AAPI voters could decide who will rule the U.S. Senate

NPR

ANALYSIS:

Asian American voters played a key role in battleground states, according to exit polls taken during the Nov. 3 elections, according to an analysis by a an AAPI advocacy coalition. They can again play a crucial role in Georgia's Jan. 5 runoff elections for U.S. Senate.

Georgia's two senate  runoff between the GOP's Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and Republican Sen. David Perdue against Democratic challenger Jon Ossoffs could determine which party will have the majority in the U.S. Senate during Joe Biden's first term as President starting Jan. 20, 2021.

Bloomberg News quoted  Sam Park, the first Asian American Democrat elected to the Georgia General Assembly: “There’s a saying that the Asian American community has gone from being a marginalized community to being the margin of victory.That could be very true here in Georgia.”

New data released by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) noted the importance of the AAPI vote in Georgia and three other battleground states: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Nevada.

“Asian Americans, especially new voters, were part of the record turnout of communities of color in the 2020 elections. Asian American voters played an important role in close races in several battleground states, and our voices must not be overlooked in the political process,” said AALDEF Executive Director Margaret Fung.

Except for the Vietnamese and Hmong communities, all other Asian ethnic groups and nationalities voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over the Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

The four states in the survey, which for voted for Trump in 2016, flipped and went Democratic earlier this month.

The states were among the last counted and their electoral votes pushed Biden-Harris over the top, giving him enough electoral votes to proclaim the Democrats victors in the closer-than-expected presidential contest.

Georgia's flip is a tribute to the groundwork in registering voters by Stacey Abrams, a former member of the state's House of Representatives and who barely lost in her gubernatorial bid. 

None of the state's top-two vote-getters in the Senate races achieved more than 50% of the votes so by state law, a runoff is necessary. Survey findings may give an indication how Georgia's AAPI electorate will vote in the Jan. 5 runoff. 

The Asian American population has soared in counties surrounding Atlanta in recent years, drawn to the area by jobs in tech, science and medicine. The surge in AAPI voters -- almost a quarter million registered voters, or about 5% of the total voters -- have made them a critical demographic for politicians and marketers.

Highlights of the AALDEF survey of AAPI voters in Georgia:

• Asian Americans decisively chose Joe Biden over Donald Trump by a margin of 62% to 36%.
• In the U.S. Senate races, Asian Americans voted for Democratic candidates over Republicans by a margin of 61% to 34%.
• All Asian ethnic groups in the state supported Biden over Trump except for Korean American voters (60% for Trump and 39% for Biden).
• Among voters not enrolled in any party, the breakout was 63% for Biden and 30% for Trump, and among voters affiliated with other parties, 60% for Biden and 20% for Trump.
• First-time voters supported Biden by a wide margin 61% to 36%.

For the Presidential election, AAPI voters turned out in historic numbers. Despite facing a pandemic, hours-long lines at the polls, language barriers, and heightened fear and intimidation about voting, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities overcame unacceptable barriers to exercise their right to vote. 

Leaning heavily towards Democrats, the chief concerns of AAPI voters are in line with most other Democrats centering on economic issues income inequality and the call for higher taxes on the rich, pollsters say.

They heard the racist rhetoric from the White House and aware of the rise of attacks against their kids in school, the flagging economy shutting down their businesses and the toll the coronavirus has taken on healthcare providers.

Early voting was favored by many of elderly who had to overcome their fear of contracting COVID-19 in order to cat their ballots. 

"Being able to cast my vote with an absentee ballot means my voice still counts.” said 76-year-old Ok Hui Kim, who chose to vote absentee to decrease the risk of being exposed to the virus

The high vote total among AAPI can be attributed to an aggressive and unprecedented multi-lingual registration and get-out-the-vote drive. In the three months prior to the November vote, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta (Advancing Justice-Atlanta) dialed 92% of the estimated 238,000 eligible AAPI voters across the state. 

AAPI communities across Georgia showed up to vote early and began Election Day having already flexed our power - 50% of registered Asian American voters had already cast their ballots, increasing turnout by 141% since 2016. In Gwinnett County alone, there were three times more AAPI early voters than in 2016, over 30,000 compared to 9,500. Of those, 43% did not vote in 2012, 2016 or 2018, according to Advancing Justice. 

Besides having an impact on the Presidential and Georgia's U.S. Senate races, the huge turnout helped elect Marvin Lim, the first Filipino American to the state legislature. Lim won the primary with 62% of the vote and since the GOP didn't have a candidate to run against him, Lim's Nov. 7 victory was a foregone conclusion.

Lim will represent House District 99, an Atlanta suburb comprised of 85% minorities, 53% of whom are immigrants.

The nation's attention will be on Georgia this Jan. 5, 2021. Both Republicans and Democrats are mobilizing their people and devoting resources to the runoff contest. Already, 6e00,000 voters have requested absentee ballots, tweeted Abrams.

Georgians who didn’t get signed up in time to cast ballots in the Nov. 3 presidential election now have until Dec. 7 to register to vote in the Jan. 5 runoffs. Early voting for the runoffs starts Dec. 14 after a record of nearly 5 million Georgians voted in the general election. Qualified voters can register online with a valid ID through the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

Democrats worry that without Donald Trump on the ballot to motivate anti-Trump voters, it will be difficult to energize Democratic voters for the Jan. 5 runoffs. Historically, conservative voters tend to turn out more in extra-inning contests.

Andrew Yang, a Presidential candidate during the Democratic primaries, said he'll be going to Georgia to help drum up excitement in the January election. “It looks like Democrats have an uphill climb in Georgia,” Yang told Yahoo Finance Live last week. “It seems like it’s because Democratic voters actually need a little bit more awareness raising to the fact that there is a special election on January 5, and conservatives are more plugged in to voting in Georgia.”

“The case to make in Georgia is exactly identical to the case that was just made with Joe at the top line,” continued Yang. He argues that the Democrats message should be getting a functional government.  “In this case, we need to deliver a Senate that will actually be looking to pass laws and not have a replay of Mitch McConnell being the obstructionist during the Obama years.”

 “AAPI communities are showing up at the polls and redefining what Georgia’s electorate looks like, said Stephanie Cho, executive director of Advancing Justice-Atlanta. "As the nation’s fastest growing population of immigrants eligible to vote, AAPI communities in Georgia will continue to grow in influence. We are only just beginning to come into our power. We will continue to show up and vote up and down the ballot for our issues, our rights, and our communities.” 

AAPI Vote 2018: Judge strikes down Georgia's voter suppresion rule

CITIZENS bearing unfamiliar foreign names and recently naturalized citizens will be allowed to vote after a federal judge ruled against the state's strictly enforced "exact match" law.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross ruled on Friday (Nov. 2) that Georgia must ease enforcement of restrictions that could prevent more than 3,000 people from voting.

The rulings are a rebuke to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, whose office oversees the voter rolls and who is the Republican candidate in the state’s hotly contested gubernatorial race.

The "exact match" law flags voter registrations that have discrepancies with other official identification documents used by the state. Mismatches can occur under the law for such reasons as missing hyphens, accent marks and middle initials. Those who are flagged can still vote if they settle the discrepancy by providing proof of identity.

Civil rights groups filed suit, arguing that the law's requirements are part of a discriminatory voter suppression effort that disenfranchises predominantly minority voters. Brian Kemp, the Republican candidate for governor who also oversees the vote as Georgia's secretary of state, says the law is vital for election integrity.

In her ruling, Ross said the requirements raised "grave concerns for the Court about the differential treatment inflicted on a group of individuals who are predominantly minorities. ... The election scheme here places a severe burden on these individuals."

Ross directed Kemp’s office to allow county election officials to permit individuals flagged and placed in pending status due to citizenship to vote a regular ballot by furnishing proof of citizenship to poll managers or deputy registrars.

“To be clear, once an individual’s citizenship has been verified by a deputy registrar or a poll manager, that individual may cast a regular ballot and the vote counts,” Ross said.

Kemp is further directed to update the Georgia Secretary of State website to provide “clear instructions and guidance to voters in pending status due to citizenship” and a contact name and telephone number that individuals may call with questions about the pending status due to citizenship.

The order further directs county boards of elections to post a list of acceptable documentation to prove citizenship, which includes a naturalization certificate, birth certificate issued by a state or territory within the United States, U.S. passport, and “other documents or affidavits explicitly identified by Georgia law and listed on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website, at polling places on Election Day.”

If proof cannot be provided on site, voters will be allowed to submit provisional ballots and provide the needed information to a registrar before the Friday after the election.

"Prior to the court's ruling, these voters, many of whom provided proof of citizenship with their registration form, would have had to physically track down a Deputy Registrar in the county to provide proof of their citizenship," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, one of the groups that brought the lawsuit.

 "Tracking this one individual down was a fatal requirement that would have been impossible for many to meet."

A report by The Associated Press said that under the "exact match" law, Kemp had stalled more than 50,000 voter registrations by mostly black voters. The AP also reported that through a process Kemp calls "voter roll maintenance," his office has "cancelled over 1.4 million voter registrations since 2012" and that "nearly 670,000 registrations were cancelled in 2017 alone."

Voting rights been a central issue in Kemp's race against Democrat Stacey Abrams, who is vying to become the nation's first black female governor. 

The ballots of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were being rejected at four times the rate of White voters in Gwinnett County.

The ballots of 102 out of 404 ballots cast by Asian Americans had been rejected - a rejection rate of just over 20 percent. 

______________________________________________________________________________

High numbers of AAPI voters are being rejected in Georgia

ASAM NEWS

THE MAIL-IN BALLOTS of Asian Americans and other people of color are disproportionately being rejected at a higher rate than White voters in Georgia, reports WhoWhatWhy

The ballots of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are being rejected at four times the rate of White voters. Blacks are seeing a rejection rate of three times that of Whites.

In all the ballots of 102 out of 404 ballots cast by Asian Americans have been rejected-a rejection rate of just over 20 percent. The rejection rate of Black ballots is more than 14 percent, 174 out of 1062.

RELATED: Having problems voting in Georgia? Let us know 

In-person early voting began statewide Monday and continues until Nov. 2.

The ballot verification is being lead by Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican who is in a tight race for governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams who’s vying to be the fist African American women governor in the country.

Civil rights groups have sued Kemp from enforcing his voter purge which the plaintiffs said is designed to disenfranchise minority voters, reports CNN.

According to CNN, the votes of 50,000 people are in jeopardy.

Forty percent of the ballots rejected, according to WhoWhatWhy, are from diverse Gwinnett County, despite only making up only 12 percent of the state’s mail-in ballots.

Reasons for the rejections range from listing today’s date instead of the birth date, to the signatures are determined to not match the signature on the voter registration card.

Problems with rejected ballots are a “red flag” for racial minorities in Gwinnett, where more than 60 percent of residents are Latino, black or Asian, said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director for the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.

Potential voters whose registrations are pending can still cast ballots if they verify their information with a state driver’s license or other form of photo ID. Election officials will accept verifications when citizens go to vote or beforehand.

“It seems like discrimination,” said Roula AbiSamra of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum. “We’re worried that people who already go through so many hoops to get their documentation in line are going to suffer again, even though they’re doing everything they can to follow the system.”

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

________________________________________________________________________________