STATEMENT: Voting Rights is an AAPI issue and the White House should prioritize meeting with AAPI leaders
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 26, 2021
PRESS CONTACT:
Dinanda Pramesti
dinanda@firesidecampaigns.com
STATEMENT: Voting Rights is an AAPI issue and the White House should prioritize meeting with AAPI leaders
WASHINGTON — In the wake of recent attacks on voting rights in state legislatures across the country, AAPI Victory Alliance is calling for White House leadership to prioritize meeting with AAPI leaders to address the rising volleys of draconian restrictions. The AAPI population is growing in influence and political power within the American electorate—AAPI voters decide elections—and White House leaders need to ensure all eligible AAPIs have safe and secure access to the ballot box.
A 73-page post-election analysis reported by The New York Times found there is rising electoral participation from AAPI voters and that they were likely the margin of victory for top races in 2020. The data shows 4 million ballots were cast by AAPI voters—a whopping 47% increase over their 2.8 million turnout in 2016 and a substantially sharper rise than the 12% increase among all other voting blocs.
In key states such as Georgia, Texas and Arizona, the AAPI electorate had some of the highest early voter turnout numbers in the nation. Georgia had the second highest state-level increase in AAPI votes in the nation with the surge exceeding Biden’s win margin and Arizona was among the top ten states that experienced a surge in AAPI voters. Overlooking AAPI political influence is an oversight and counteracts decades of democratic progress.
AAPI Victory Alliance Executive Director Varun Nikore issued the following statement:
“Voting rights is an AAPI issue. We account for the highest voting bloc increase over the last 100 years. For far too long, the AAPI community has been overlooked and underinvested in—even though the AAPI electorate continues to determine more elections than any other racial or ethnic group across the United States. Our community is the primary reason why Democrats maintain control of the White House and Congress, and it’s time AAPI voters be recognized as a powerful political force. We are calling on the White House to speak with AAPI leaders about the volleys of restrictive voting rights legislation disenfranchising eligible voters. AAPIs are a force to be reckoned with and we demand a seat at the table on issues of voting rights.”
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The AAPI Victory Alliance is a policy and advocacy organization works in partnership with the AAPI Victory Fund along with legislators at the federal and state level to move and implement policies that benefit AAPI communities from a diverse lens, harness last year’s record voter engagement, build grassroots support of candidates who prioritize the AAPI community, and works on policy proposals to improve hate crime reporting and response.