next photo

prev photo

In these final weeks before the national elections, the race is not only between those with their names on the ballots. There is also a race to get names on the voter registration rolls. In addition to the efforts of candidates and political organizations to get voters they see as friendly registered, local civic organizations are also signing up eligible citizens. Case in point: the work of the Commission on Human Rights in Rockville.

An 11-member group of volunteers appointed by Rockville’s Mayor and Council, the Commission’s charter is to “ensure equal treatment, free from discrimination for people who live, visit or work in the City of Rockville.” Part of that mission is achieved, they believe, when citizens make their voices heard on election day. With that in mind, the Commission recently conducted a Marathon Voter Registration Drive.

The Commission has been holding voter registration drives annually since 2004, but this year they upped it to “marathon” status. A team of four volunteers headed by Human Rights and Community Mediation Administrator Janet Kelly traveled to six Rockville locations to create mobile registration sites with a van.

“The drive was for voters of all demographics, different ethnicities, people of all ages, and basically anyone who still wasn’t registered to vote,” Kelly explained. She added that one important aspect of the effort was to get younger people exposed to voting.

Rockville’s overall population of about 62,000 people had approximately 37,000 registered voters, according to city’s figures from 2011. Latest census data show Rockville to be a community with a diverse mix of ethnicities. Asian Americans account for about 21% of its population, and about 5.6% in the total Maryland population.

Even as national and regional studies demonstrate the growing voter participation and accompanying political clout for Asian Americans, Eric Huang, one of the voter drive volunteers and a member of the Asian Pacific American Task force in Maryland, thinks that the community’s registration levels remain too low here, and that many Asian Americans have yet to register.

“I believe they’re not willing to join because, first, they don’t understand what the purpose [of voting] is, or its benefits,” he said, adding that voter registration is largely “a citizenship issue.” “I think we should have people pass the citizen exams, then we can do the next steps…So if possible take the [citizenship] class first. It’s very important, I think, to help to get registered.”

Huang believes any reluctance for Asian Americans to register may be partly a cultural challenge. Some Asian Americans, he thinks, have difficulty relating to current issues personally because of differences between America’s culture and government and those of immigrants’ home countries’.

“But we are in America, we have new lives. You cannot compare two different societies,” he said. And Huang believes that efforts in schools to generate interest in voting might result in kids, especially second generation children, to encourage their parents to participate in democracy at its most basic level.

Although there are efforts being made by Asian American organizations and government groups such as the Commission on Human Rights to reach out to non-registered citizens, Huang still frets over what he sees as Asian American turnout below what it should be. There is some optimism in the data, however. A study from the Lake Research Partners for the Asian American Justice Center and the Asian American Institute reported that the rate of voting by Asian Americans increased from 44% in 2004 to 48% in 2008. This survey indicates another likely increase of Asian American voting is expected in this election cycle, as 83% of registered Asian Americans said they are almost certain to vote this November. That high figure may or not be reached, but a good sign is that 50% said they were more enthusiastic about voting than usual.

But the people working hard to get people to the polls have their work cut out for them. The Rockville drive, for example, was an all-day affair with stops at six sites across town. Yet all that work resulted in the registering of an additional 44 voters. The good news for our community is that 29 of those new voters are Asian Americans. In a year in which razor-close races are predicted, every vote will count and that magnifies our impact even more.

For information and questions about voting in Rockville, call Janet Kelly of the City of Rockville Human Rights and Community Mediation Administrator, at 240-314-8316.