understanding the impact of

AAPI voters

from data to stories

speakers

​

Nicole Dungca | The Washington Post / Asian American Journalists Association (moderator)

Janelle Wong | AAPI Data

Pratheek Rebala | Center for Public Integrity

Mark Hugo Lopez | Pew Research Center

​

AAPI DATA

Resources at AAPIData.com include point and click tools:

State population counts for 40 Asian and 34 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander origin groups

Data down to the county level on race and Asian American subgroups on key demographic indicators (produces tables and charts for you!)

Asian American Voter Surveys - 2024 available in July

Monthly Pulse Surveys with AP/NORC

Pew Research Center data

• 15 million Asian Americans will be eligible to vote this fall, a record
• Most Asian RVs are Democrats … except Vietnamese RVs
• In Jan, strengthening the economy, reducing HC costs, improving job situation were top priorities for pres/Congress (*)
• In Jan, 59% of Asian Americans disapproved of Biden’s job performance (*)
• Asian American voters prioritize candidates’ policy positions over candidates’ racial identity

Ethnicity & Race data in the voter-file

Self-reported ethnicity/race data is only available in 9* states

Ethnicity & Race data in the voter-file…not ideal

​

Texas

Tennessee

Ethnicity & Race Data in the Voter File: Texas

Modeling Race & Ethnicity!

Modeling Race & Ethnicity?

How to work around these issues?

• Only write about LA, SC, AL, FL, NC, GA…jk
• Pay very close attention to collection methodology for surveys like the Voting Rights Supplement of the CPS
• Use an alternative (but coarser) source for race & ethnicity:
• If you are looking for disparities in primary participation – instead of relying on the voter file alone to provide race, you could spatially join voter addresses with Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) data from the ACS.
• Look beyond voter data

Some story ideas

• Linguistic barriers to voting
• Section 203 of the VRA requires election administrators in certain jurisdictions to provide election materials in languages other than English & Spanish.
• The list of jurisdictions and covered languages is regularly updated by the Census Bureau.
• The process for determining which jurisdictions and which languages are subject to this is based on metrics that might not always work for Asian communities.

Some story ideas

• Physical “cost” of voting:
• In the vast majority of the country, voters vote at the designated polling site for their precinct. The exact location of this precinct is determined by numerous (often mundane) factors.
• We found that administrators do not always closely examine how these decisions might impact various demographic groups.
• The voter-file could allow one to quantify the impact of proposed precinct plans in real-time.

Some story ideas

• Cost of voting (continued):
• The “mundane” reasons mentioned above could be caused by deeper systemic issues such as redlining, zoning or tax policy.
• Natural disasters (floods, hurricanes etc) can necessitate last-minute changes to polling locations which can compound the harm to communities of color.

Some story ideas

• Ballot Return Data
• Mail ballot return data could provide a real-time glimpse into voting behavior prior to election day.
• Detailed data on mail ballot status (requested, rejected etc.) is available at the voter level in some states (e.g. NC).
• The ballot return data and the voter file can also serve as a great tool for audience engagement*.
• Similar data at the individual level is also available for voters who vote early in person.

Q&A

http://www.tinyurl.com/nicaraaja

​

Nicole Dungca | The Washington Post / Asian American Journalists Association (moderator)

nicole.dungca@washpost.com

Janelle Wong | AAPI Data

janelle@aapidata.com

Pratheek Rebala | Center for Public Integrity

prebala@publicintegrity.org

Mark Hugo Lopez | Pew Research Center

MLopez@pewresearch.org

​