Asian-Americans have the lowest level of participation among all ethnic groups in U.S. politics, and an initiative led by Shekar Narasimhan, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi, has been trying to change that.
Launched four months ago, the Asian-American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Victory Fund has a grand vision overall but modest objectives for the current election cycle — reach out to as many members of the community as possible in six States where a few thousand votes can make the difference.
“If we manage to increase the voter participation of Asians in these six states — Ohio, Virginia, Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Florida — by just five percentage from the last cycle, we will be the margin of victory,” explained Mr. Narasimhan.
Low voter turnout AAPI population in the U.S. is 19.4 million, according to calculations based on the 2012 census.
Of this, 13-14 million are eligible to vote, but only 56 per cent of them are registered. In the last election cycle, only 3.9 million voted. “Only half of them, which is much below other communities in terms of participation. The primary reason is that nobody reaches out to them,” said Mr. Narasimhan.
A recent survey of AAPI population bears this out. It found that Asian-Americans are the least likely to be contacted by a political party or community organisations.
AAPI Victory Fund seeks to change the situation, and gradually make the community an influential voice in American policymaking.
Mr. Narasimhan says within his first years in the U.S., he realised that “much like [in] India, influence mattered”. After a management degree from the University of Pittsburgh, he began working on a rural planning project in Kentucky, and his role required him to coordinate with the federal administration in Washington. “I realised it mattered who is in power, it is really important to know who is in charge, and who took decisions,” he said, explaining the beginning of this involvement with U.S. politics.
AAPI Fund is not into funding candidates or parties, but focused entirely on increasing the community’s participation in politics, through a three-stage process. The first is to get them to register as voters. The second is through persuasion. “We are getting people trained to talk to their local communities on issues that matter to them,” Mr. Narasimhan said. For instance, there are four lakh Indians in the U.S. without proper documentation and the debate on immigration reforms will have a huge impact on them. The third stage is to get them out to vote on November 8.
The campaign is focused on 23 counties within the six States where Asian communities are concentrated. It has contacted 73,000 eligible voters in the last 90 days and 4,000 of them have already registered to vote. The target this year is to add 10,000 new voters.
The campaign hopes to have stickers on thousands of cars on November 8 that says, ‘I am Asian. I voted’. “That is when parties will take note and want to know what the community wants. This is a place where there are too many competing demands and unless you make your case, you will not be heard,” said Mr. Narasimhan.
