AUSTIN, Texas — As voter turnout continues its upward track, experts say the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community is part of the reason.
The AAPI community is the fastest-growing racial group in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. From 2000 to 2020, the number of Asian American eligible voters more than doubled, growing by 139%.
And according to StateVoices.org, 49% of the eligible Asian American and Pacific Islander voters in Travis County have already cast their ballots.
That's why not even temperatures in the 40s could stop Alice Yi and volunteers from going door-to-door in South Austin on Tuesday afternoon.
"I'm so excited," Yi said.
Yi and others are targeting the 51% of local AAPI eligible voters who haven't voted yet. Yi wants to make sure they do.
"If we can get everybody out and vote, we maybe can change the election outcome. So, this is so important," Yi said.
As part of the group Austin Asian Complete Count Committee, Yi led a successful effort to get the AAPI community counted for the 2020 Census.
Now that is translating into the November elections.
According to the voter database Catalist, nationwide, 621,765 AAPI voters who have already cast their ballots this year didn't vote in 2016. That's a 34% increase.
Perhaps an even more impressive number comes from the 18 to 29-year-old demographic.
According to Catalist, that group cast 84,000 early votes in 2016. So far this year, that group has cast 330,000 ballots, a nearly 400% increase.
Christine Chen is the executive director of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote or APIAVote.
"I really anticipate that participation is going to be higher than it ever has been. So, our goal then is to take these voters and make sure that they vote multiple times because surveys have shown if we could get a new voter to vote three times in a row, they become a lifetime voter," Chen said.
That excitement is something Yi hears when she's out canvassing for votes.
"Oh, they are so ready to vote. And so many people whom we knocked at the door and they say, 'I am looking forward to vote,'" Yi said.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: