Inclusive #MotorVoter Bill Enfranchises 20,000+ API Voters

Voting is one of the fundamental rights citizens have in America, and it is also a direct indicator of community health and opportunity. APANO has worked for over 20 years to increase civic engagement in our Asian and Pacific Islander communities with the purpose of addressing community needs and driving progressive systems change. Voter registration has been one of our key strategies, highlighted by our multilingual efforts to register over 4,500 voters each year. While we have had success and developed a broad network of empowered members, we continue to face language and cultural barriers to register all eligible API voters.

We are proud to announce that thanks to a broad coalition effort including APANO and many of our communities of color partners, a new#MotorVoter law will enfranchise 20,000+ API voters, about 50% of the unregistered API eligible voters. This builds on the over 40,000 API who already vote. This will allow APANO to refocus our resources to support issue analysis and voter engagement strategies in 2016.

Governor Kate Brown will be signing House Bill 2177 on Monday March 16th - an act that will enfranchise 300,000 new voters across the state. APANO celebrates voting rights, particularly in our time where voter suppression laws such as restrictive ID and racial profiling are on the rise. We are honored to be a part of a state where civic engagement is prized and such a win is possible.

Special appreciations to Paolo Esteban, Amanda So, Kathy Wai and all of you who volunteered to lead our 2014 efforts. Gratitude to our partners at Oregon Voice, Causa, Bus Project and the Western States Center who we have worked closely with over the years to transform how we do civic engagement. Thank you for your support, we are stronger together!

Media Resources

• The surprises in Oregon’s pioneering new voter registration system
• New Motor Voter bill will increase access to the ballot
• How Oregon’s new law can change voter registration

Joseph Santos-Lyons
Executive Director