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Attempting to Flex Political Muscle, Asian Americans Face Voter Registration Gap
Massachusetts’ fast-growing Asian American population faces a “voter registration gap” as they attempt to turn population growth into political muscle, according to a new study, Enabling the Asian American Electorate: 2003 Voter Registration in Eleven Massachusetts Cities and Towns by the Institute for Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
While Asian Americans make up a 6 percent share of eligible voters, they constitute just 4.2 percent of the registered voters in the communities studied. This represents a “registration gap” of 1.8 percent, or nearly 30,000 potential Asian American votes that go uncast with each passing election, according to the study, which is the most detailed report to date on Asian American political participation in Massachusetts.
“Rapid growth is the foundation for enhanced Asian American political participation and influence,” according to the report. “To take full advantage of the growing Asian American presence, however, the voter eligibility and voter registration gaps must be closed or turned around.”
In the 11 cities and towns examined, 25.5 percent of voting age Asian Americans registered to vote. In contrast, the registration rate for all adult residents in those communities is 62 percent. Researchers found that many voting-age Asian Americans face barriers posed by the requirements to first obtain citizenship and then to register, the authors of the report found.
Despite these obstacles, the study identified signs of a significant Asian American electoral presence in some cities and towns. In five of the eleven cities and towns examined, Asian Americans exceeded five percent of total registered voters. The study looks at data from Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Newton, Quincy, Somerville, Waltham and Worcester, which all have more than 4,000 voting age Asian Americans.
The study authors, Institute Director Paul Y. Watanabe and Research Associate Michael Liu, note that for a broad majority of Americans, “the mechanics of enabling them to vote are pretty simple.” Citizens by birth turn 18 and register to vote. Asian Americans, however, are predominantly foreign born and thus must become citizens before pursuing the registration process. “Although many Asian American immigrants do become citizens joining their American-born brothers and sisters, the percentage of Asian American adults who are citizens still lags considerably behind that of the general population,” the authors found.
The report also looks at party affiliations among Asian Americans, finding that 58 percent of the Asian American voters in the communities studied did not choose a party, joining the ranks of “unenrolled”, or independent, voters. Approximately 31 percent enrolled as Democrats and slightly more than 10 percent enrolled as Republicans. In the same cities and towns, 39.6 percent of all registered voters were unenrolled, 50.1 percent registered as Democrats and 9.1 registered as Republicans.
“This means that for the total of these cities and towns, Asian Americans were more likely to be unenrolled, less enrolled as Democrats and slightly more enrolled as Republicans compared to the overall population of registered voters,” the study found.
Specifically, in Quincy 68.4 percent of the Asian American voters registered as independents. In Newton, that number was 63.5 percent. In Malden it was 63 percent and in Waltham it was 60.9 percent. In Cambridge, 41.1 percent of the Asian Americans registered as Democrats. In Worcester, 17 percent of the Asian Americans registered as Republicans; in Lynn that number was 15.7 percent.
But the study authors focused most intently on the rate at which Asian Americans pursue citizenship and the rate at which those who are citizens register to vote.
In all, Asian Americans constitute 10.1 percent of the adult population in the 11 communities studied. But they make up just 6 percent of the eligible voters, producing an “eligibility gap” of 4.1 percent, according to the study.
The “registration gap” of 1.8 percent in Boston translates into 11,699 voting age Asian American citizens who are not registered. The registration gap of 5.3 percent in Quincy means 4,717 potential voters are not participating in elections, researchers estimate. In Cambridge the registration gap of 2.9 percent comes to as many as 3,052 unregistered voters.
“The potential impact of any group of course is based on more than numbers,” researchers conclude. “The concentration of Asian Americans of voting age, as adult citizens, and as a share of registered voters help offer some indication of the political weight that Asian Americans can and do possess. Here our data suggest that … on all of these measures the share of Asian Americans is significant and in most cases growing. The challenge for Asian Americans in these communities and, indeed, for the communities as a whole is to strengthen their opportunities to vote and for full civic engagement.”
To see the study, visit the Institute for Asian American Studies website at www.iaas.umb.edu.