House Testimony for hearing on "Voting Rights and Election Administration in America"

The language barrier is one of the biggest impediments to the Asian American vote. Lagging behind non-Hispanic whites in voter participation, ensuring effective language assistance is paramount to closing that consistent gap. While the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) has been vital to ensuring language access and assistance to Asian Americans in national and local elections, and for increasing the community’s access to the ballot, more can be done to improve access to the ballot for limited English proficient Asian American voters. This testimony will detail the Asian American electorate and the language barriers facing Asian Americans as well as recommendations and best practices to providing language assistance.  While Asian Americans are the nation’s fastest growing racial group and are quickly becoming a significant electoral force, the community will not be able to maximize its political power without access to the ballot. 
 

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