How Asian American voters are changing North Carolina
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Student volunteers for N.C. Asian Americans Together prepare to canvass in Wake County, an area where Asian-American voters have significantly grown over the last decade. (Photo: David Chang/NCAAT)
A key issue in 2018 will be voter turnout. Just 56.5 percent of registered Asian Americans in North Carolina voted in 2016, compared to 69 percent for all voters in the state. One cause may be that these communities have often been bypassed by candidates and political parties: 71 percent of Asian American voters nationally said they weren’t contacted by either major political party in 2016.
“In a midterm election, each vote is especially important,” said Chris Kromm, executive director of the Durham-based Institute for Southern Studies, a nonpartisan media and research center. “In key legislative and congressional districts, as well as on statewide issues like the proposed constitutional amendments, Asian American voters could easily make the difference.”
This year, NCAAT has registered more than 2,000 voters in Asian-concentrated areas in N.C. and hosted three candidate forums in Wake County. These are part of what the group calls an "unprecedented" push to educate and mobilize the state's Asian-American electorate in 2018, which over the next 12 days will include an issue forum, phone banking, a door-to-door canvass in Wake County and a "Party and the Polls" on Election Day.
For a copy of the full report, visit How Asian American Voters are Changing N.C.
The report was developed by N.C. Asian Americans Together in collaboration with the Institute for Southern Studies. North Carolina Asian Americans Together is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on bringing together the Asian American community in North Carolina through civic engagement and political participation. Learn more at www.ncaatogether.org. The Institute for Southern Studiesis a nonpartisan research, media and education center founded by civil rights veterans. Learn more at www.southernstudies.org.