Check out the video we made with one of our residents in 2016 about why voting matters.
(dates and deadlines at the end of the video were for 2016—please visit www.boston.gov for updated dates)
Vote today in the State primaries!!! Primary elections typically don't get as much attention as the general election in November. Nevertheless, they are an important part of our civic process and they determine which candidates represent each party in the general election which will take place on November 8.
If you are interested in becoming a civic engagement volunteer with ACDC, please contact us!
Click here to find your voting polling station.
For the past four years, ACDC has been involved in civic engagement efforts in Boston and Quincy. Partnering with Quincy Asian Resources, we have conducted two city council candidate forums in Quincy. This year, we are expanding our civic engagement efforts into Malden, where we recently launched a new office. We are currently recruiting youth and local residents to join us in our door knocking efforts which will begin later this month. We focus our civic engagement efforts to encourage low income Asian immigrant citizens to become registered voters. We conduct voter education workshops to ensure that voters understand the stances of the various candidates and understand what issues are being debated. Furthermore, we host gatherings between residents and elected officials where our residents can directly ask questions and tell their stories to those who represent them. It is important that candidates know the importance of reaching out to Asian American voters. According to AAPI Data, "[n]early 70% of Asian Americans have reported that neither party contacts them in regards to the election."
According to the Pew Research Center, while Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group in America since 2000, Asian Americans voter turn-out percentage severely lags that of other ethnic groups at 47%. This compares to 66% for black voters and 64% for non-white Hispanic voters. Some of this is due to language barriers where immigrant voters have difficulty understanding the issues that candidates discuss. There are also cultural barriers where immigrants come from countries that do not have a strong democratic process. Since our civic engagement work began in Quincy, the Asian American voter turn-out in Quincy has tripled from 413 voters in 2013 to 1120 in 2017.
Our civic engagement efforts are funded through generous funding from the Coulter Foundation, the Boston Foundation, and the Asian Healthcare Foundation.
