THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS - Influence of new U.S. citizens on elections is on the rise
ESTHER WU | Thursday, October 21, 2004

In 12 days, citizens of this country will have an opportunity to exercise one of the basic tenets of democracy - voting. And according to a report released this month by the American Immigration Law Foundation, voting is a right taken very seriously by new citizens.

Among the key findings of the foundation's report:

*During the 2000 presidential election, there were 10.7 million adult "new" citizens in the country. Of that number, 6.2 million registered to vote, and 5.4 million voted.

*Also in 2000, there were 13.2 million adult Latino U.S. citizens. Of that number, 7.6 million were registered to vote, and 5.9 million voted. There were 4.6 million adult U.S. citizens of Asian or Pacific islander descent, including 2.4 million registered to vote, and 2 million who voted.

*The number of newly naturalized citizens accounted for more than half the net growth in people registered to vote from 1996 to 2000.

*The votes of new citizens are particularly important in "battleground" states, including Arizona, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington, where an election might be decided by relatively few voters.

*In Texas, foreign-born voters accounted for 5.3 percent of the voters in 2000.

The bottom line?

Immigrants are a growing part of the U.S. electorate, the report's executive summary says, and in a close presidential race, these "new" or naturalized citizens can affect the outcome.

And there are a number of organizations that have been created to help these new voters make informed decisions, as well as to help educate them on their rights. Among the most active is APIAVOTE 2004, a national coalition of nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations that encourages civic participation and promotes a better understanding of public policy and the electoral process among Americans of Asian and Pacific islander descent.

Janelle Hu, national campaign coordinator for the group, said Asian and Pacific islanders would definitely have an impact on this presidential election.

According to Ms. Hu, in the last presidential election, there was a direct correlation between registration and political participation in the APIA community.

"If we can get APIAs to register, they will vote," she told the United States Commission on Civil Rights recently. "Nevertheless there are still strong barriers to APIA participation in the political process."

According to Daphne Kwok, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, those barriers include language, misunderstanding or misconceptions of the political process, fear of the political system and a general feeling that their votes don't matter.

However, there has been a growing movement among the APIA communities to get involved with the political process. "This time around there is a growing excitement to see the energy level emerge from a grass-roots effort. The infrastructure is finally in place," she said.

The infrastructure Ms. Kwok refers to are volunteer and community organizations that are educating their constituents on the importance of the political system and the power of the vote.

Ms. Kwok also points out that there are more APIAs who are running for and getting elected to public office. "And they become a catalyst for more people to get involved," she said.

Besides the growing number of Asian-Americans in public office, Ms. Kwok also cited a growing concern among APIA voters about issues such as health care, bilingual education, employment and welfare.

"We all have a stake in these issues," she said.

She's right. As Asian-Americans are finally finding their voices, it is important that they vote for the candidates who will speak for them to make sure they are heard.