Asian American poll watchers on the lookout for racist rhetoric and intimidation

Every election, volunteers from Asian Americans Advancing Justice-SoCal visit area voting centers to ensure voters have access to materials in different languages ​​and bilingual poll workers.

But this year, these observers are being asked to do more: look for intimidation or anti-Asian speech in or around voting centers.

This follows two incidents in Orange County. A man was arrested this month by Huntington Beach police after allegedly spray-painting anti-Asian slurs on signs aimed at Democratic congressional candidate Dave Min.

And in Little Saigon, there were protests against letters sent by Republican Rep. Michelle Steel that attempted to portray her Democratic rival Derek Tran as having ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Protesters accused the congressman of exploiting widespread anti-communist sentiments in Little Saigon against Tran, the son of Vietnamese refugees.

“Anti-Asian rhetoric and inciting language against Asian American applicants can have harmful effects,” said Connie Chung Joe, CEO of AAAJ-SoCal. “Historically, we’ve seen this happen to Asian candidates, and what ugliness and anti-Asian hatred happens.”

An open letter

The recent incidents prompted Joe and other Asian American leaders across the state to warn in an open letter to the two major mail-in protest parties in Orange County that “false narratives” and the “racialized scapegoating” of Asian American candidates “increases hatred and creates harm to all Asian Americans.” »

Joe worries about a repeat of the 2020 presidential election, which coincided with the pandemic and a surge in anti-Asian attacks.

“We heard that a lot of people were just afraid to go to the voting booths, to go to the voting centers and vote in person, because they were afraid at that time that we would have so much anti-hate Asian,” Joe said.

Focus on Orange County

AAAJ-SoCal has already recruited 120 poll watchers, many of them from law firms. If you are interested, register quickly as there is training required.

It’s not necessary to be bilingual, but knowing another language will come in handy during exit interviews with voters about how the voting process will work – another new request from volunteers this year.

More volunteers than in previous elections will be invited to visit a voting center in Orange County. Joe said the plan is to send observers to 48 voting centers in Orange County, up from 28 during the primary.

Joe noted that more than a quarter of Orange County’s population is Asian American and Pacific Islander and that several races have AAPI applicants.

Additionally, “there is less infrastructure in OC than in LA for voting rights work and civic engagement, so we just think there are more opportunities to be there -down and monitor any challenges or issues that may arise for our community,” Joe said.