On September 7, the Democratic Party of Virginia aimed to turn out more Asian voters for this November’s local elections, volunteers launched a full-scale campaign for three Asian candidates in the party.<\/p>\n
Through the use of \u2018phone banks’ volunteers intend to turn out more votes by assisting Asian voters who speak more of their native language (more commonly Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese).<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Asian American community in Virginia is growing rapidly, so we need more voters to make sure we are represented,\u201d said Jennifer Oh, from the Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia (DAAV).<\/p>\n
Gautam Dutta of the Asian American Action Fund also noted how, because of AAPI’s participation in 2009 elections, Delegate Mark Keam\u2014whose campaign office in Tyson’s corner will be used for the campaign activities\u2014is now in the legislature.<\/p>\n
This year’s candidates are Mark Keam (Korean) 3rd time State House of Representatives challenger for District 35, Hung Nguyen (Vietnamese) first time challenger for District 67, and Atif Qarni (Pakistani) for District 13.<\/p>\n
Volunteers mainly come from the Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia (DAAV), an organization dedicated to \u2018increasing APA community engagement and awareness in the political process, and the Asian American Action Foundation Fund (AAA-Fund), a political organization that aims to empower AAPI’s across the U.S. Many volunteers also include youth and community volunteers in Virginia.<\/p>\n
From the kick-off last September 7, the campaign will continue every weekend until the November 5 elections.<\/p>\n