AAPI Equity Alliance joined a California campaign focused on preventing voter intimidation and election interference ahead of the November election, organizers announced Sept. 23.
The group is joining Can’t Stop California, a coalition of election officials, elected leaders and community organizations that is planning voter-protection efforts across the state.
AAPI Equity Alliance joined a California campaign focused on preventing voter intimidation and election interference ahead of the November election, organizers announced Sept. 23.
The group is joining Can’t Stop California, a coalition of election officials, elected leaders and community organizations that is planning voter-protection efforts across the state.
The campaign said it will train volunteers to serve as neighborhood voter protectors, provide information about voting rights at polling places and document incidents of alleged voter intimidation.
Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, said the organization joined the effort amid concerns over threats to voting rights and immigrant communities.
“AAPI Equity Alliance is proud to stand in solidarity with Can’t Stop California to ensure that our communities can exercise their right to vote safely, freely, and without barrier or interference,” Kulkarni said.
“With today’s unprecedented assaults on our elections and voting rights, and on immigrant communities, protecting our right to vote is essential to ensuring every eligible vote is counted,” she added.
Rep. Judy Chu, (D-CA), who spoke at the campaign’s news conference, pointed to the history of voting barriers affecting Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.
“For over 60 years, the Voting Rights Act has protected everyone in America including Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders who were denied access to the ballot box based on their race, ethnicity, or limited English proficiency at one time,” Chu said.
Chu cited districting, harassment over accents and the dilution of political representation as examples of how she said AAPI communities have faced barriers to political participation.
The campaign comes as AAPI voters have become a growing part of the U.S. electorate. AAPI Equity Alliance said those voters continue to face challenges including limited availability of in-language voting materials, misinformation and disinformation, restrictive voting laws and intimidating polling environments.
The organization also raised concerns that heightened immigration enforcement could discourage some AAPI voters from participating in the November election.