Asian-American activists work to improve voter turnout

[Khephra]

Asian-American activists work to improve voter turnout

By Alice Chang
Cox News Service
Thursday, September 09, 2004



NEW YORK — In Queens, a voting poll worker "pulled the corners of her eyes back and said, 'I can tell the difference between a Chinese and a Japanese by their chinky eyes.' "

In Flushing, a poll worker referred to South Asian voters as "terrorists."

Community activists say these incidents from the November 2002 election, reported by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, raise concerns that similar discrimination will turn Asian Americans away from voting in this fall's presidential voting.

"If our community has done everything legally required to be registered to vote, they should be able to vote free of discrimination and harassment," said Glenn Magpantay, a defense fund attorney who specializes in voting rights law. Asian American leaders believe discrimination at the polls is just one reason their community has the lowest voting rate in the country. According to a Census Bureau study of eligible voters in the 2000 elections, only 43 percent of Asians voted, a smaller proportion than black, Hispanic, or non-Hispanic white voters.

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