The Asian American Power Network launched a $10 million effort to improve voter turnout from the Asian community in seven battleground states ahead of the midterm elections.
The funds will be used to encourage voter turnout in Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. The funds from the liberal advocacy group are intended to mobilize Asian American and Pacific Islander voters who speak other languages by communicating with the communities in their native languages, according to Nadia Belkin, the executive director of the Asian American Power Network.
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“Our community does face some interesting and unique barriers to the political process,” Belkin told NBC News. “We need to address and meet the moment.”
In North Carolina, the group hopes to reach voters in 18 languages, while in Pennsylvania, the outreach will be done in 15 languages, the outlet reported.
The effort comes as the country witnesses record voter turnout in the AAPI communities. Between 2000 and 2019, the growth rate of Asian Americans in the United States was 81%, higher than that of any other race or ethnicity, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center study.
In a different study of over 1,600 registered AAPI voters, more than half said they would be voting in the midterm elections, but less than half had been contacted by one of the major parties. More than 40% of the voters who spoke a different language at home said they would use voting assistance if it was available in their language, the survey by APIAVote said.
Of those polled, more AAPI voters are likely to vote Democrat than Republican, with Indian Americans the most likely to vote for Democrats and Vietnamese Americans most likely to vote Republican, the survey said.
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Republicans are also attempting to reach the AAPI community. The Republican National Committee set up a new minority outreach center in Issaquah, Washington, last month, and the center is one of five across the country. Three of the other locations are in Georgia, California, and Texas, according to NBC.
