A new study points the way

Improving the quality of translated voting materials, broadening government outreach to potential voters and increasing the number of in-person voting sites are key to boosting voter turnout among Asian Americans in Los Angeles, according to a newly published report from the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Research has shown that Asian Americans are among the fastest growing electorates in the U.S. and in the city of Los Angeles, where they represent the third-largest racial or ethnic group after Latinos and whites. Yet, reliable data on Asian American voting has remained sparse.

“Many of the challenges that Asian Americans face when voting remain underrecognized and understudied,” said Natalie Masuoka, faculty director of the center’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Initiative and an expert on racial and ethnic politics.

The new study, conducted in collaboration with Loyola Marymount University and the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment, aimed to change that by taking a taking a deeper look at local Asian American communities’ experiences with election materials, processes and communications.

With the help of undergraduates from both universities, the research team conducted more than 1,000 in-person surveys with Asian American voters of all ages. The surveys were available in English, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Vietnamese, Thai and Spanish.

In-person voting: More sites could help boost voting

Survey participants were found to be highly knowledgeable about the voting process. Nearly all knew about universal vote by mail (90%), the availability of bilingual materials (92%) and vote centers (84%).

Overall, the preferred approach to voting was in person (35%), followed by mail-in ballots (33%) and drop-offs (26%). Those aged 65 and older showed a particularly high preference for in-person voting (46%), while those between the ages of 18 and 24 showed a slight preference for voting by mail (34%) over voting in person (33%).

The research team recommended increasing opportunities for in-person voting, especially in those Los Angeles communities with high concentrations of Asian Americans, to help encourage participation.

Differences emerged between those who regularly participate in elections and those who do not. For example, nearly 60% of regular voters surveyed strongly agreed with the assessment that the government has made voting easy, but only 30% of low-propensity voters felt the same way. Among registered voters who didn’t vote, the top reason was not having enough time to do so.

“Most studies focus on the national electorate and lacked attention to the nuances of life in Los Angeles, and primarily focused on high-propensity voters or regular voters,” said Nathan Chan, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount who co-led the study, during a presentation of the research. “We don’t actually know very much about those who don’t actually vote.”

Now, the new survey findings about low-propensity voters may help voting initiatives better target their efforts to these voters in Los Angeles’s Asian American communities, the researchers said.

The importance of breaking down language barriers

Although the 1965 Voting Rights Act stipulated that counties must provide ballot materials in additional languages if 5% or more of their population speak a language other than English, translated materials can often fall short, participants said.

Nearly 45% of those surveyed reported that they found Asian-language–translated ballots difficult to understand, and half said they had trouble understanding the English-language ballot. These figures were higher among Asian immigrant voters, at 61% and 57% respectively.

The researchers said that the accuracy and translations of bilingual voting resources should be evaluated to ensure that voters can use and understand these materials.

“It is incredibly important we put real resources behind language access,” said Shengxaio “Sole” Yu, an activist-in-residence at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

Yu, who helped with translating the surveys for the study, emphasized that deeper conversations, the use of nuance, and greater input from community members are pivotal to breaking down language barriers around voting and getting people to understand what they are voting on.

UCLA’s Masuoka, who is also a professor of political science and Asian American studies, agreed.

“We hope that our report on language access urges our leaders to devote more attention to ensuring equal voting rights access for all Americans,” she said.

Outreach to the community

Conducted between January and March of this year, the study’s survey intake took place at community events, such as Lunar New Year festivals and night markets, assisted by community development organizations in Los Angeles County.

Sydney Pike, who graduated from UCLA in June with a bachelor’s in political science, did fieldwork for the study as an intern with the Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment, speaking in depth with people about their voting experiences and perspectives.

She was particularly struck, she said, by many participants’ lack of trust in the country’s political systems and institutions, their fears about voter fraud and their concern that their votes don’t matter, especially at a national level.

“A lot of people spoke about how local elections mattered to them more, compared to state or federal elections,” said Pike, now a junior analyst with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. “They don’t see their vote really making an impact at those [higher] levels.”

Better outreach might help, the researchers said. The study found that a majority of respondents could not recall being contacted about the 2024 elections, especially low-propensity voters. At the same time, 51% of regular voters and 31% of those least likely to vote said that outreach from a trusted messenger like the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters would increase their chances of voting—more so than outreach from political candidates or even community organizations.

The research team recommended that boosting such outreach efforts to Asian American communities about elections would increase the likelihood of voting.

“Academic–community partnerships [like this] help us to better identify specific needs of the community,” Masuoka said. “The research helps to better highlight these needs for policymakers.”

Student experiences students and the community

Several of the study’s undergraduate research students shared findings from the study during Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Advocacy Day in Sacramento earlier this year.

Jasmine To, a UCLA political science student from the San Gabriel Valley, was able to speak with elected officials and legislators about a number of issues, including improving translations and the linguistic accuracy of ballots and informational materials.

“It was definitely extremely fulfilling and transformative to advocate at the state Capitol for my community’s right to more effectively and accessibly partake in civic engagement,” To said.

Bridging the gap between research and community was central to this study and to improving Asian American voter participation, said Nancy Yap, executive director of the Center for Asian Americans United for Self-Empowerment.

“At the core of civic engagement is actually a connection to community and change,” Yap said. “Now we have the data to show that these strategies are actually what our community is looking for—opportunities to engage and actually share how they feel about what is happening to them in their day-to-day lives.”