In the past decade, the number of eligible Asian American Pacific Islander voters in Michigan grew by 59%.
The largest Asian American ethnic groups in the state are Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese.
Rebeka Islam is the executive director for Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) Vote Michigan, a nonprofit dedicated to engaging, educating, and empowering these communities.
WKAR’s Megan Schellong speaks to Islam to discuss some of the concerns for this group ahead of the November municipal elections.
Some of the issues include access to state departmental and agency services for individuals with limited English proficiency and drivers’ license and state identification cards for people who do not have proof of U.S. citizenship or immigration status.
Interview Highlights
On why APIAVote Michigan is focusing its mobilization efforts in Metro Detroit
We are really, just given the circumstance, bound to prioritize our community efforts in the areas where there is a higher and denser AAPI population. And we’re always ready and willing to work with any community members who express immediate need for our support. But I will note that just because of our capacity, we’re not able to physically take part in efforts there, as a grassroot organization. But I also want to note that even though we’re not physically there, we have done, and we continue to do voter mobilization through phone banking, text banking, on the west side of state and throughout the state of Michigan for AAPI committee members.
On the challenges of getting the AAPI community to the polls
I think one of the concerns as it relates to language access, that has been a ongoing struggle, and a barrier for our community members not having enough information, and then when they do have the information, it’s not in the language that they’re comfortable, or that…
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