Millions of US citizens could lose their right to vote after House passes restrictive SAVE Act

WIKIA

AANHPI voters may find it more difficult to do so if the SAVE Act is signed into law.

When it coes time to vote for Congress in 2026, Asian and Pacific Island American voters should remember the latest legislation introduced after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation that would disenfranchise millions of AANHPI, other minorities and women.

The  US House of Representatives  on Thursday voted, 220-208, to pass  the misleadingly named Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. The legislation purportedly aims to block non-citizens from voting, which is already illegal and is very rare. Four Democrats joined the GOP majority to advance the bill.

“House Republicans’ so-called SAVE Act is nothing more than a shameful attempt to silence the voices of millions of Americans. This bill will prevent Americans from using their driver’s license or military ID in order to register to vote. It will also eliminate existing voter registration methods, including registering via mail or online," said a statement from Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus chair Grace Meng and Rep, Bobby Scott, Congress' lone Filipino American who chairs CAPAC's Civil Rights and Voting Rights Task Force.

“If this bill were to become law, military service members deployed overseas would be forced to return to the U.S. to register to vote. Married women who have changed their surnames would not be allowed to use their birth certificate to prove their citizenship. Twenty-one million eligible voters would need to pay significant fees to obtain documentation needed to cast their ballot," continues the joint statement.

“Adding unnecessary and expensive barriers to vote will disenfranchise millions of U.S. citizens and disproportionately impact the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community. A majority of Asian American eligible voters are naturalized citizens who may lack immediate access to documentation required under this restrictive law.

“Moreover, President Trump is curtailing language access for individuals with Limited English Proficiency—making up one-third of the AANHPI community—which may affect multilingual assistance in voter registration. He also signed an executive order that would prevent Americans from using their birth certificate to register to vote—an apparent reference to his unlawful order revoking birthright citizenship. These are extreme measures that will suppress AANHPI participation in our elections.

“To be clear, it is already illegal under federal law for noncitizens to cast a ballot. This legislation is not about safeguarding elections; it is a blatant assault on the constitutional rights of millions of Americans."

If that is not enough, voting rights groups have said the bill will pose a barrier for millions of American women and others who have changed their legal name because of marriage, assimilation to sound more "American," citizenshp or to better align with their gender identity. An estimated 69 million American women and 4 million men do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name.

“Many eligible voters including those in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community do not have readily available documents to meet SAVE Act requirements.," says Christine Chen, Executive Director of APIAVote.

"Furthermore, our communities rely on methods such as online, mail and voter registration drives, and this draconian measure would effectively end those options," says Chen. "With the bill passing in the House today, the battle now shifts to the Senate where we will be working hard to make sure that our Senators know this bill that will prevent eligible voters from casting their ballot.."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X or at the blog Views From the Edge.

AAPI advocates challenge Trump and GOP seeking to suppress voting

ANALYSIS

In yet another attempted power grab and effort to intimidate immigrant communities, which historically voted Democratic, Donald Trump signed last week an executive order misleadingly titled, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.”

The order, signed March 25, threatens our democracy by intending to require burdensome documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote, encouraging the purging of eligible voters from error-prone database comparisons, and attempting to pressure states from counting mail-in and absentee ballots properly mailed on Election Day. 

 “We are dismayed by President Trump’s attempt to undermine civic engagement and vilify immigrant communities, including Asian Americans. Voting is a fundamental right, not a privilege, for all who are eligible, and all eligible votes must be counted during elections," said Asian Americans Advancing Justice in a statement

"Documentary proof of citizenship, like a passport, is onerous because many Americans don’t have it readily available or even handy when they register to vote."

FYI: Read the lawsuit, League of Women Voters et. al. v. Trump et. al.:, 

The Constitution clearly specifies that Congress and the states can set the rules for our elections, not the President. 

Nevertheless, the White House claims that the executive order is necessarily to prevent noncitizens from voting even though there is no evidence they do in significant numbers in the United States. The order threatens states that do not comply with the loss of federal funding.

Will Scharf, the White House staff secretary, called the order “the farthest-reaching executive action taken” in the country’s history.

The Order’s misguided focus on database matching is alarming because it is prone to errors due to outdated and contradictory information," responds AAAJ. "We know that these Homeland Security databases generally don’t contain information about US-born citizens. As a result, those who are caught in this unwarranted fishing expedition are most likely to be eligible voters who are naturalized citizens. Past attempts to match voter lists at the state level have already erroneously removed many eligible voters."

“This executive order is rooted in baseless rhetoric around voter fraud and noncitizen voting, which is extremely rare, proving yet again that the ultimate goal of this administration is to prevent American citizens who are disfavored by this Administration from voting," says AAAJ. 

"This executive order comes from the same xenophobic impulse as the suspension of federal grants to community organizations helping immigrants naturalize. We saw that same rhetoric in the attempt to slash the Constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship. We stand firm in our commitment to protecting vulnerable communities and making sure that every eligible individual can make their voice heard at the ballot box.”

AAAJ is part of a coalition filing the lawsuit challenging Trump’s unlawful executive order. Other groups in the coalition include Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, Organization of Chinese Associations-Asian Pacific American Advocates and a host of other civil rights organizations including the Hispanic Federation, National League of Women Voters, League of Women Voters of Arizona, League of Women Voters Education Fund, NAACP, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of D.C., the Legal Defense Fund, and LatinoJustice PRLDEF.

The groups are challenging the order’s usurpation of powers, including its directive for the US Election Assistance Commission to change the federal voter registration form to require burdensome submission of documents to prove citizenship, which many Americans do not have or cannot easily acquire.

Under current law, would-be voters are required to swear, under penalty of perjury, that they are US citizens and eligible to vote, and to provide a driver's license number, state ID number or Social Security number. Those who attempt to vote illegally can face prison time, fines or deportation.

Several audits by nonpartisan groups and states, including those that voted for Trump and even the conservative think-tank, the Heritage Foundation, have not found any evidence that noncitizens are registering to vote at significant rates.

The coalition which filed the lawsuit against the executive order, released the following joint statement:

“The president has no constitutional or statutory authority to unilaterally dictate how elections are run. This executive order is a blatant violation of the separation of powers. Election rules are decided by Congress and the states, and any attempt by the executive branch to override their power violates the Constitution. This order, based on a persistent false and racialized narrative, could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. It mirrors the SAVE Act, which would add unnecessary barriers to voter registration and silence the voices of American citizens. These unlawful attacks on voting rights are part of a broader effort to undermine our democracy. We have filed suit to stop this executive order and to keep it from interfering with eligible voters’ participation in our elections.”

The executive order and the SAVE Act are just one facet of the overall Republican strategy to weaken the Democratic voters influence. The GOP depends on voter suppression to narrow the margin between Democrats and Republicans because there are more people registered Democrat than Republican. In addition to presenting obstacles to voting and making large portions of the US citizenry ineligible to vote, the GOP use a barrage of lies and misinformation to woo voters to more conservatie policies and Republican candidates.

Prior to a vote on the Executive Order, also known as the SAVE Act, Rep. Terri Sewell n, D-Alabama, sargued against the bill on the House floor on April 1: 

"In reality, this legislation would purge thousands of eligible voters from the rolls. It would create significant barriers for the 69 million women who currently got married and changed their last names, so their birth certificates do not match their marriage certificates, and thus it would be harder for these women, almost 70 million women, to vote, and the 140 million Americans that do not have a passport, and those with military IDs and tribal IDs, none of which would be able to prove their birth citizenship. These are not included in the bill as proper forms of ID that will allow someone to show their citizenship."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X or at the blog Views From the Edge.

 

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.

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.

Democrats fight back Republicans' efforts to suppress voters' of color

SCREEN CAPTURE

Hawaii's Sen. Mazie Hirono speaking on the Senate floor.

After West Virginia's Sen. Joe Mancin has apparently doomed President Biden's Build Back Better plan with his refusal to vote for it, Democrats began shifting their attention to voting rights.

Hawaii's Senator Mazie K. Hirono spoke on the Senate floor about the urgent need to pass voting rights legislation on Dec. 16. Given Republican’s refusal to do their jobs and protect the fundamental right to vote, Hirono urged her Democratic colleagues to act on filibuster reform in order to advance voting rights legislation.

“Before President Trump, Republicans at least tried to pretend their laws weren’t blatantly discriminatory. But now they aren’t even attempting to hide the fact that they are purposefully trying to make it darn near impossible for Black people and other people of color, elderly individuals, students, working families, and people with disabilities to vote,” Senator Hirono on the Senate floor.

“The fact that Republicans continue to claim that these voter suppression tactics are necessary to protect election integrity would be laughable if it wasn’t so deeply damaging to our democracy," said Hirono. "We all know that countless investigations have uncovered absolutely no evidence of systemic or widespread voter fraud. We all know that the 2020 election was the most secure election in our nation’s history. And we certainly all know this not about voter fraud, it’s about advancing a political agenda by denying large swaths of Americans their fundamental right to vote. 

"If this isn’t un-American, I don’t know what is. 

"Which is why voter suppression is the most urgent crisis facing our country today. And which is why, it is the single most pressing issue the Senate must address,” she added.

Mancin's adament refusal to back the BBB angered Hirono. “A 50/50 Senate is really problematic. I’ve used the word ‘sucks.’ It definitely enables one or two people to hold things up. So, yes, I am frustrated.”

So the Democrats, blocked by a single senator from a state with fewer people than the San Francisco Bay Area, the Democrats are renewing their focus on voting rights. 

"If we can get the congressional voting rights done, we should do it," President Biden said Wednesday in Kentucky, adding: "There’s nothing domestically more important than voting rights."

Protecting voting rights has been a major aim of the Democratic s since Biden took office, but their multiple efforts to pass voting rights have been repeatedly filibustered by the Senate GOP.

With the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Insurrection coming up, and Mancin again holding a critical vote in his pocket, Georgia's sen. Raphael Warnock issued a powerful speech last Tuesday.

Warnock called for the Senate to use the same mechanism that allowed the chamber's Democrats to lift the debt ceiling with a simple majority to do the same to address voting rights.

"Before we left Washington last week, we in this chamber made a change in the Senate's rules in order to push forward something that all of us think is important: We set the stage to raise the nation's debt ceiling," Warnock said Tuesday. "And yet as we cast that vote to begin addressing the debt ceiling, this same chamber is allowing the ceiling of our democracy to crash in around us."

"Be very clear: last week we changed the rules of the Senate to address another important issue, the economy," Warnock said. "This is a step, a change in the Senate rules we haven't been willing to take to save our broken democracy, but one that a bipartisan majority of this chamber thought was necessary in order to keep our economy strong."

"The judgment of history is upon us," Warnock said. "Future generations will ask, 'when the democracy was in a 911 state of emergency, what did you do to put the fire out?' Did we rise to the moment? Or did we hide behind procedural rules?"

Hirono followed up Thursday with a salvo of her own in her Senate speech below:

Here's a transcript of her speech:

“M. President, the foundation of American democracy is built upon the sacred right to vote, and there is no doubt that right is under attack today. This year alone, 550 voter suppression bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country.

“In Texas, it is now illegal to compensate workers who help voters who don’t speak English and for election officials to encourage eligible voters to apply to vote by mail. In Fulton County, Georgia—a county that historically votes Democratic—the number of ballot boxes has been reduced from 38 to 8. That’s one ballot box for every 100,000 voters. And in Florida, ballot drop-off boxes can only be utilized during early-voting hours and boxes must be located at either a county’s elections office or early-voting sites.

“Republicans have even gone so far as to make it illegal to hand a bottle of water to voters waiting in line. I truly want to know how you can even pretend to justify that law?

“But when you shut down or severely limit the hours of polling locations, remove eligible voters from the voting list, create unnecessary hurdles to vote, and eliminate Election Day registration, who do you think this hurts?

“Before President Trump, Republicans at least tried to pretend their laws weren’t blatantly discriminatory. But now they aren’t even attempting to hide the fact that they are purposefully trying to make it darn near impossible for Black people and other people of color, elderly individuals, students, working families, and people with disabilities to vote.

“The fact that Republicans continue to claim that these voter suppression tactics are necessary to protect election integrity would be laughable if it wasn’t so deeply damaging to our democracy. We all know that countless investigations have uncovered absolutely no evidence of systemic or widespread voter fraud. We all know that the 2020 election was the most secure election in our nation’s history. And we certainly all know this not about voter fraud, it’s about advancing a political agenda by denying large swaths of Americans their fundamental right to vote.

“If this isn’t un-American, I don’t know what is.

“Which is why voter suppression is the most urgent crisis facing our country today. And which is why, it is the single most pressing issue the Senate must address.

“We need to pass Build Back Better. And we need to fight against attacks on a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body, attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, attacks on unions, and so much more. Because battles for rights that we thought we had won, don’t stay won.

“But we won’t succeed in preserving these hard won rights if we don’t protect the right to vote. To quote my friend and colleague, Senator Warnock, “voting rights are preservative of all other rights.”

“We are nearing the one-year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. This violent insurrection and mob violence was the direct result of blatant lies told by the former President and his supporters about systemic fraud and a “stolen election.” We are still learning the consequences of that day, but we know for certain this act of domestic terrorism was an attack on free and fair elections in this country. Yet, Republicans continue to spread the same lies about election fraud and push through legislation at the state level to silence Americans across the country.

“Congress must take action to restore the integrity of our voting system and make sure every American’s voice is heard and counted. And we’ve tried. We’ve tried four times to stop these unconstitutional state level laws from undermining our elections.

“We’ve tried to pass common sense reforms that would allow all eligible voters to vote by mail; make Election Day a federal holiday so all working families can vote; and establish federal criminal penalties for deceiving voters with false and misleading information about voting.

“And most importantly, we’re tried to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would give the Department of Justice the tools to keep these blatant voter suppression laws from being enacted in the first place. Only one Republican joined us in voting for this bill. The same bill that was being touted as bipartisan.

“It’s crystal clear by now that Republicans have absolutely no interest in protecting the right to vote. For Republicans, voter suppression and gerrymandering is their path to victory. Democrats cannot sit back and allow a political party to maintain power by denying Americans their right to vote.

“Quoting Senator Warnock again, 'as we cast that vote to begin addressing the debt ceiling, this same chamber is allowing the ceiling of our democracy to crash in around us. We figured out a way to save our economy, we can figure out a way to save our democracy.'

“Filibuster reform is the path Democrats need to take to fight back against the Republicans all out voter suppression assault on our democracy. I call on my Democratic colleagues to act.

Thank you M. President.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REDISTRICTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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