Dear Board of Supervisors,
The Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE) is writing to express our support for Agenda Item No. 32 by Supervisor Hilda L. Solis to ensure the engagement of non-English-speaking and limited English-proficient voters in Los Angeles County’s elections through a lens of inclusion and equity. CAUSE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan, community-based organization with a mission to advance the political and civic empowerment of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community through nonpartisan voter outreach, training, and education as well as leadership development.
CAUSE has been at the forefront of empowering the AAPI community’s political voice in Southern California through active participation in the redistricting process with the California Citizens Redistricting Commission and advocating for in-person vote centers in Chinatown and Koreatown in the 2022 Primary Election. We have seen that the AAPI community wants to become more civically engaged but may not be familiar or able to do so. We know that the collaboration of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC) with the Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiative (ARDI) and the Office of Immigrant Affairs (OIA) will increase the inclusion and equitable support for voters from our communities.
Specifically, CAUSE is interested in the way the plan will address the challenges around criteria for vote center locations so that large, urban ethnic neighborhoods have vote centers that are culturally sensitive and accessible. In 2022, the Los Angeles County Clerk and Registrar-Recorder's office (RR/CC) met with community leaders, including CAUSE, stating that the lack of vote center sites in Chinatown and Koreatown was a result of a lack of sites that fit the minimum criteria at the time. RR/CC expressed how vote center criteria had been adjusted to account for COVID-19 safety needs and implementing Voting Solutions for All People (VSAP) ballot marking machines. These criteria, though enacted to protect voters, meant that many historic polling locations in predominantly urban ethnic neighborhoods were no longer eligible.
CAUSE believes this motion is a step towards addressing these issues and preventing this unintended consequence from reoccurring. Together, we believe that RR/CC, ARDI, and OIA can create equitable and realistic vote center criteria and provide long-term investment in neighborhood community centers to meet requirements and serve as vote centers.
We know that equity and voting access is an ongoing process that we all care about. CAUSE will continue to advocate and work with all willing parties to address the needs of our communities. Through post-election reporting, CAUSE looks forward to seeing how non-English speaking and limited English proficiency voters are supported, what lessons were learned, and how the county can continue to improve upon this plan that strives for equity.
We strongly urge the Board of Supervisors to vote in support of Agenda Item No. 32 to support inclusive engagement of non-English speaking voters.
Sincerely,
Nancy Yap
Executive Director