MEDIA ADVISORY

Special Elections Seen as an Opportunity to Increase Immigrant Voter Participation
New Voter Education Tools Address Barriers to Voting

Immigrant communities are eager to participate in the elections, yet a number of barriers exist that keep them from fully participating in the electoral process. The Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV) Campaign 2005 is making available multi-lingual voter education tools to address one of the greatest barriers to voter participation: lack of accessible information. The potential to increase civic engagement among immigrant communities is tremendous, especially with initiatives on the ballot in November that may have a negative impact on immigrant and low-income communities.

WHAT: Forums and other events are being scheduled statewide to distribute information and educate immigrant and low-income communities about the importance of voting, the impact of November’s ballot initiatives and voters’ rights at the polls.

WHEN: Throughout the month of October (see attached schedule).

WHERE: Los Angeles, the South Bay and the Bay Area (Oakland/San Francisco).

WHO: Immigrant community members, some of whom are first-time voters.

WHY: The voting rates of immigrant communities in California are not proportional to their current population; however, the overall share of the electorate in recent elections has increased four times as quickly as that of non-immigrants. There is a tremendous potential for increasing the immigrant vote in California.


The English version of the multilingual voter guide produced by MIV and the California Partnership (CAP) is available at http://www.immigrantrights.org/mivguide_en.pdf

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Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV) Campaign 2005
SCHEDULE OF VOTER EDUCATION FORUMS


San Rafael/Marin County
ORGANIZATION(S): Asian Advocacy Project of Community Action Marin
DATE: Friday, October 21
TIME: 5:30pm
LOCATION: Pickle Weed Park
50 Canal Street, San Rafael
LANGUAGES: Vietnamese
CONTACT: Vinh Luu – 415-259-0178

San Francisco
ORGANIZATION(S): People Organized to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights (PODER), the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) and the Filipino Community Center
DATE: Saturday, October 22
TIME: 11:00 – 1:00 pm
LOCATION: Filipino Community Center
35 San Juan Avenue (near Mission & Ocean Street)
LANGUAGES: Spanish, Chinese & Tagalog
CONTACT: Oscar Grande – 415-431-4210

Los Angeles
ORGANIZATION(S): Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Asian Pacific American Law Center (APALC), the Korean Resource Center (KRC), Asian & Pacific Islanders’ California Action Network, Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council, Liberty Hill Foundation, Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness and the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA).
DATE: Saturday, October 22
TIME: 11:00 – 1:00 pm
LOCATION: Temple Gateway youth & Community Center
3200 West Temple Street (in Filipinotown), Los Angeles
LANGUAGES: Spanish & Korean
CONTACT: Alvaro Huerta – 213-353-1333, ext. 245

San José– South Bay
ORGANIZATION(S): Services, Immigration Rights and Education Network (SIREN)
DATE: Thursday, October 26
TIME: 6:15 – 7:45 pm
LOCATION: Biblioteca Latinoamericana
921 South First Street, San Jose
LANGUAGES: Spanish & Vietnamese
CONTACT: Larisa Casillas – 408-453-3003, ext. 102

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