AANHPI advocates urge Biden to strengthen voting access and rights for 2024

Efforts by federal departments to promote and protect voting rights has had mixed results after President Biden issued the Executive Order Promoting Access to Voting two years ago.

A recent report — Strengthening Democracy: A Progress Report on Federal Agency Action to Promote Access to Voting — commemorating the two-year anniversary of  the Voting Access executive order's announcement shows that while a few federal agencies are on the right track to completing implementation, several others have fallen behind and risk not achieving the order's potential before the end of 2024. 

A letter to Biden from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 230 national organizations committed to promoting and protectin civil and human rights, emphasized the need to implement the goals set out by the executive order before the next Presidential election in 2024.

The report found that it is becoming increasingly difficult to register to vote and cast a ballot despite Biden's order issued on the anniversary the Selma voting rights march.

Voter registration remains a hurdle for many eligible voters, particularly people of color, says the report. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 77% of white eligible voters are registered to vote, compared to only 69% of Black eligible voters, 61% of Latinx eligible voters, 64% of Asian American eligible voters, and 63% of Native American eligible voters. In the last presidential election, more than 63 million eligible voters were not registered to vote, according to the report

While a few federal agencies are on the right track to completing implementation, several others have fallen behind and risk not achieving the Voting Access EO’s potential before the end of 2024. 

The report focuses on 10 federal agencies, which were selected based on their potential for promoting access to registration and voting for large populations, feasibility of voter registration in their agency context, direct interaction with the public, and ability to reach marginalized communities in our political system — especially people of color, Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, Native Americans, people with limited English proficiency, newly naturalized citizens, students, people with low incomes, and people directly impacted by the criminal-legal system.

According to the Leadership Conference, only three agencies — the Department of Interior, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Treasury — are on the right track to complete implementation and fully integrate voter registration services into their everyday interactions with the public. 

However, the report cites seven agencies that have slowed or stalled in their progress to implement the Voting Access executive order. "Accordingly, we urge the Biden-Harris administration to carry out the recommendations outlined in the report to fulfill the mandate of the EO," cites the letter.

The departments have fallen short in meeting their goals are:

• Department of Health and Human Services: Ensure the integration of a voter registration opportunity into the Healthcare.gov application is fully operational by the Fall 2023 open enrollment period; and launch the promised voting information hub for older adults and people with disabilities.

• US Marshals Service, Department of Justice: Ensure all eligible individuals in federal pre-trial custody have access to high quality voter registration services and assistance voting; make public the results of any internal assessments on these efforts; and leverage its contracts to ensure ballot access for all eligible voters, not just those in federal custody.

• Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice: Ensure all eligible individuals in federal prison across the country can access registration and voting services; and ensure that high-quality information about voting rights is consistently provided during incarceration and upon release.

• General Services Administration: Ensure Vote.gov is a user-friendly and accessible resource for all voters, regardless of disability status, language, conviction history, and geography.

• Indian Health Services, Department of Health and Human Services: Provide high-quality voter registration services, including assistance, at Indian Health Services facilities; and work with interested tribes to support voter registration opportunities at health facilities run by tribes.

• Department of Education: Improve voter registration opportunities for students at institutions of higher learning, including adding voter registration opportunities to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid “Student Aid Report.”

• US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security: Ensure all new citizens have access to high-quality voter registration services at or immediately after all naturalization ceremonies

"We urge the Biden-Harris administration to make fulfilling the promise of the Executive Order on Promoting Access to Voting a top priority in the final two years of this term," concludes the letter. "Now is the time to finish the job by fully implementing this administration’s strong commitment to protecting the right to vote and to ensure all federal agencies are prepared to support their constituents in participating in our democracy."

Among the 100 AANHPI signatories to the letter are:

Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF)
Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC
Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote)
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO
Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO)

Japanese American Citizens League

National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA)
National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
National Asian Pacific Americans Against Substance Abuse

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA)

National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)

South Asian Public Health Association

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

Over 400 religious, civil rights organizations call for police reformSCREEN

SCREEN CAPTURE

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and over 400 other civil rights organizations Monday called on congressional leadership to swiftly rectify the legacy of white supremacy and anti-black racism that has led to police violence against Black people across the United States.

“People in Minnesota and around the country are rightfully angered and devastated by the police killing of George Floyd. The problem of state violence against communities of color, particularly Black people, has a long history in this country that we have not fully confronted or addressed," said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

In the Obama administration, Gupta headed up civil rights enforcement for the Department of Justice.

The list of supporting groups included almost two dozen AAPI organization: the Japanese American Citizens League, the oldest AAPI civil rights group,Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

"Federal statutory reforms are urgently needed on a range of policing issues, including use of force, police accountability, racial profiling, militarization, data collection, and training," said the letter's signers.

“Now is the time for Congress to pass meaningful police reform legislation. While we appreciate hearings and resolutions, we need comprehensive measures to happen. We need Congress to truly step up to the plate and protect Black communities from the systemic perils of over policing, police brutality, misconduct, and harassment, and end the impunity in which officers operate in taking the lives of Black people. It is your moral and ethical duty to ensure Black people and communities are free from the harm and threats from law enforcement and to curtail state sanctioned police violence and militarized police responses,” the groups said in the letter.

The signers requested a meeting with congressional leadership to discuss urgently needed reforms that ensure police officers live up to their oath to protect and serve all people in the United States.

The federal reforms addressed in the letter include: 

• Require a federal standard that use of force be reserved for only when necessary as a last resort after exhausting reasonable options, and incentivize states to implement this standard; require the use of de-escalation techniques, and the duty to intervene; ban the use of force as a punitive measure or means of retaliation against individuals who only verbally confront officers, or against individuals who pose a danger only to themselves; and require all officers to accurately report all uses of force;
• Prohibit all maneuvers that restrict the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain, including neck holds, chokeholds, and similar excessive force, deeming the use of such force a federal civil rights violation;
• Prohibit racial profiling with robust data collection on police-community encounters and law enforcement activities. Data should capture all demographic categories and be disaggregated;
• Eliminate federal programs that provide military equipment to law enforcement;
• Prohibit the use of no-knock warrants, especially for drug searches;
• Change the 18 U.S.C. Sec. 242 mens rea requirement from willfulness to recklessness, permitting prosecutors to successfully hold law enforcement accountable for the deprivation of civil rights and civil liberties;
• Develop a national public database that would cover all police agencies in the United States and its territories; and,
• End the qualified immunity doctrine that prevents police from being held legally accountable when they break the law.

The complete letter and list of signatories are available here.

Vanita Gupta continues her fight for justice and civil rights

HOORAY! Vanita Gupta is back. The former head of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division is the new leader of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a 67-year-old organization sometimes described as the lobbying arm of the civil rights movement.

She was named the next president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Thursday (March 21). Later this year, she will succeed Wade Henderson, who has served as president and CEO since 1996 and helped grow the organization into a coalition of more than 200 civil and human rights groups.

Vanita Gupta

“Civil and human rights work has never been easy, and these unprecedented times demand a clarity of vision, strategy, and solidarity that the Leadership Conference coalition is uniquely positioned to champion," said Gupta. "I am honored and humbled to take on this essential work to guarantee that justice and equality apply to every individual as we struggle to be a more perfect union and remain a beacon for hope in the world.”

Gupta will hold the titles of president and CEO of both organizations and officially assume the roles on June 1, 2017. She most recently served in President Obama’s administration as the head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. 

She will succeed Wade Henderson, who has served as president and CEO since June 1996. Henderson, one of the pre-eminent civil and human rights leaders of the last 40 years, announced in November 2015 his intention to step down after the selection of a successor.

William Robinson, chair of The Leadership Conference Education Fund board, said Gupta, 42, represents the “next generation” of civil rights leaders.

“As the first woman and first child of immigrants to serve as the leader of this organization, Vanita Gupta’s selection marks a turning point in civil rights history,” Robinson said. “The civil and human rights coalition is in very good hands.”

Gupta will hold the titles of president and CEO of both organizations and officially assume the roles on June 1, 2017. She most recently served in President Obama’s administration as the head of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. 

She will succeed Wade Henderson, who has served as president and CEO since June 1996. Henderson, one of the pre-eminent civil and human rights leaders of the last 40 years, announced in November 2015 his intention to step down after the selection of a successor.

William Robinson, chair of The Leadership Conference Education Fund board, said Gupta, 42, represents the “next generation” of civil rights leaders.

“As the first woman and first child of immigrants to serve as the leader of this organization, Vanita Gupta’s selection marks a turning point in civil rights history,” Robinson said. “The civil and human rights coalition is in very good hands.”

RELATED: Civil rights will suffer under Trump; we'll miss Vanita Gupta

Born in Philadelphia, Gupta is the daughter of Indian immigrants and spent much of her early childhood in England and France, where her father worked as a business manager for a multinational chemical company.

Gupta began her career as a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In addition to her work with the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Gupta has taught civil rights litigation and advocacy clinics at New York University School of Law since 2008. She received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Yale University and J.D. from New York University School of Law.

Obama appointed Gupta as principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in October 2014, where she served until January. As the nation’s chief civil rights prosecutor during one of the division’s highest profile and most productive eras, Gupta oversaw a wide range of criminal and civil enforcement efforts to ensure equal justice and protect equal opportunity for all.

Gupta focused the division on advancing constitutional policing and criminal justice reform; prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking; promoting disability rights and protecting the rights of LGBTQ individuals; and ensuring voting rights for all. She prioritized combatting discrimination in education, housing, employment, lending, and religious exercise. During her tenure, she oversaw federal investigations of the Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore, and Chicago police departments; the lawsuit against North Carolina’s discriminatory H.B. 2; and the successful appeals of the Texas and North Carolina voter ID cases.

“Throughout her career, Vanita has pushed our nation to live up to its promise of equal justice for all," said former Attorney General Eric Holder. "Her fearless advocacy for the rights of all Americans, while at the helm of the Civil Rights Division, proves that she will be able to lead the important coalition of the Leadership Conference member organizations. Vanita’s ability to bridge divides and build coalitions to drive progress will enable her to build on Wade Henderson’s incredible legacy.”

“At a time when our nation’s ideals and progress are being threatened in such fundamental ways, The Leadership Conference is a vital nerve center of the broad swath of civil and human rights organizations that are fighting for justice, fairness, and equality around the country,” Gupta said.

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