Chinatown Vote

AAU’s Chinatown Vote project, founded in 2014, trains youth and adult volunteers to register new voters from our Asian communities, conduct door knocking and phone banking, and assist non-English proficient voters at polls. Since it began, Chinatown Vote volunteers have supported thousands of new and non-English proficient citizens to get-out-the-vote.

In 2016, Chinatown Vote began conducting citizenship screenings and legal clinics with legal service provider-partners to support non-English proficient Chinese-speaking community members to attain financial support (fee waivers available for low-income applicants) and complete all the documents and processes to apply for citizenship. Chinatown Vote sees a growing need for this in-language support for community members to take this needed first step towards greater civic engagement. 

Our program focuses primarily on Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and immigrant voters. This is a critical population to expand the AAPI electorate and increase immigrant representation in government and civic life. We build up our bilingual base to enhance voter outreach, including registration, education, and poll monitoring. AAPI voter turnout is often hindered by systemic barriers, but through multilingual outreach and community events, we conduct critical GOTV efforts.

Through the Chinatown Vote project, we strive to reframe voting from a one-day action to a long-term project that involves day-in and day-out engagement with community members about the issues that matter most to them. For support with registering to vote, applying for citizenship, or other voting questions, please call 215.925.1538 or email aau@aaunited.org.