St. Paul, Minn. (Nov. 7, 2019) — This year’s St. Paul local elections produced new city council members, new school board members, and upheld the ordinance on city trash collection services.
IMAP coalition members have been reaching out to Asian Americans and communities of color to provide voter education around the St. Paul local elections through door knocking, phone banking, and community events. In a four day Get Out the Vote (GOTV) project, IMAP coalition members recruited over 300 volunteer shifts and attempted over 13,500 voter contacts through a door and phone campaign, and resulting in speaking with over 2,200 St. Paul voters.
“Our year-long civic engagement effort began with last year’s 2018 Election follow-up calls that led to over 100 activities in 2019 focusing on continuous voter outreach and education,” said Linda Her, executive director, Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP). “We have come full circle in this election, during these past four days of Get Out the Vote excitement, our aim was to remind our St. Paul constituents to turnout to vote on Nov. 5. Many traditional civic engagement outreach efforts don’t prioritize and outreach to our Asian American voters beyond asking for their one time vote. Our large IMAP civic engagement efforts are to address that perpetual Election engagement, advance the Asian American vote to parity, and ensure that our communities stay engaged in every Election where the outcomes determine their livelihood and well-being.”
Coalition members include: Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP), CAPI-USA, ReleaseMN8, Church of St. Columba, Hmong Women Achieving Together, Filipinx for Immigrant Rights and racial Justice (FIRM), Hmong Americans for Justice (HAJ), Karen Organization of Minnesota (KOM), Bhutanese Community of Minnesota (BCOM), COPAL MN, Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota (LACM), SEWA-AIFA, and Vietnamese Social Services (VSS).
While the Elections are over, grassroots-civic organizing efforts continue. In 2020, in addition to the Presidential Elections in the fall, IMAP will be engaging in Census outreach efforts, hosting community conversations on Census education, post-election voter experience, and more. Join IMAP in bridging understanding with Asian American, immigrant and refugee communities on voting rights, immigration issues, and Census 2020 to ensure we are counted and represented in our democracy.
To learn more or get involved, visit aaopmn.org or capiusa.org.
