Thousands of Asian Pacific Islander Americans Across the Nation Watched the Last Presidential Debate and Participated in National Conference Call

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October 13, 2004

Washington DC – For the third and final Presidential candidate’s debate tonight, APIAVote encouraged all Asian Pacific Islander Americans to host or participate in Debate Watches and call in to our national Conference Call afterwards as Presidential Candidate surrogates addressed the APIA community. In doing so, APIAs helped energize the community to be an active part of this year’s elections and showed candidates that we are an important and involved constituency.

The APIA community is a rapidly growing minority population. However, we have been historically underrepresented in the political process, and non-participation on our part has only worsened that effect. There are many setbacks to APIA participation. Typical voter contact methods do not reach APIAs. Also, as 2/3 of the APIA community members are immigrants, many carry over fear or distrust of political involvement from their countries of origin. Furthermore, outreach to APIAs by parties, candidates, and political groups has been and remains relatively low.

By taking part in the Debate Watches and Conference Call, we mobilized the APIA community in spite of these historical impediments. APIAs will not sit back in hopes that one day politicians will cater to us. Instead we need to come together today and speak up for ourselves. The Conference Call was a huge opportunity for the candidates to find out that there is a strong APIA constituency, that we are going to vote, and that we care and think about the issues.
The election is going to be close, and the stakes are high. 62% of APIAs think the 2004 presidential election may be the most important election of their lifetime. We cannot afford for the outcome to take place without our full participation. The APIA community has already made significant progress so far in gearing up for this year’s elections. Hundreds of thousands of new APIAs have registered to vote since the 2000 elections. But with 20% of APIAs still undecided, watching the debates and calling in tonight will be an important way for our community to get more informed and educated before November 2nd.

“Debate watch parties outreached to our friends and families who have never really discussed politics at the ‘kitchen table’ and helped them feel comfortable about engaging in the political process and the 2004 elections,” explained Go Kasai, APIAVote Youth Coordinator. “We’ve seen incredible initiative among APIA youth this election cycle, which I’m confident will really propel us forward to make a bigger impact on the vote than we ever have before.”

“APIA voters coordinated hundreds of Debate Watch House Parties across the country,” according to Janelle Hu, APIAVote National Coordinator. “This is on top of the numerous voter projects by APIA organizations that are registering voters, disseminating educational materials, and coordinating voter turnout. With our joint efforts, we will show the nation that APIAs are more engaged than ever in the political process and will race to the polls on November 2nd!”