Press Release

Findings Illuminate Asian American Voting Patterns, Priorities for 2008 Elections, Senate Vote in Battleground States, and Need for Expanded Language Access

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) will release detailed findings from its nonpartisan exit poll of more than 4,700 Asian American voters on Friday, June 29th at the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA)s 29th Annual Convention in Sacramento, California at 9:30 a.m. AALDEF staff, volunteers, and community partners including OCA conducted the multilingual exit poll in 23 cities on Election Day 2006 in nine states—New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, and Washington as well as Washington, D.C. AALDEFs exit poll was the largest survey of Asian American voters conducted during the midterm elections last November.

AALDEF will present detailed findings from its multi-state exit poll report, The Asian American Vote in the 2006 Midterm Elections, with comparative information in the following areas:

• Voter priorities for the 2008 Elections
• Party enrollment and voting history
• Vote for U.S. Senate (VA, NJ, PA, MD)
• Ethnicity and national origin
• Opinions about immigration reform
• Citizenship tenure (duration)
• Language access needs
• Unlawful voting barriers encountered

EVENT: AALDEF Presents Findings of Exit Poll Surveying over 4,700 Asian American Voters during the 2006 Midterm Elections at OCA Annual Convention Opening Plenary

DATE/TIME/PLACE:
Friday, June 29, 2007, 9:30 10:30 a.m.
Sheraton Grand Hotel Convention Center Rooms 317/318
Sacramento, CA

PRESENTER: Glenn D. Magpantay, Staff Attorney, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund

RSVP REQUIRED: Journalists who wish to receive copies of the presentation should e-mail AALDEF Communications Coordinator Shirley Lin at slin@aaldef.org or call 212.966.5932 x213. All workshops, including the Opening Plenary, as well as the exhibition area, community fairs, and youth programs are free and open to the public. Registration is required for the opening ceremony, all meals including the gala banquet, and special events including tours, performances, and receptions.

Copies of the Asian Pacific American Legal Centers exit poll report on Asian American voters in California, Asian Americans at the Ballot Box: The 2006 General Election in Los Angeles County, will also be available at the presentation.

Full registration or individual tickets can be purchased at the door. For convention registration, please e-mail OCA Communications Manager Hope Chu at hchu@ocanational.org or visit www.ocanational.org.

AALDEF’s multilingual exit polls reveal vital information about Asian American voting patterns that is often overlooked in mainstream voter surveys. AALDEF has conducted exit polls of Asian American voters in every major election since 1988. Nearly 11,000 Asian American voters in eight states and 3,000 in four states were surveyed in the 2004 and 2002 exit polls, respectively. More than 30 community groups and organizations joined AALDEF to mobilize more than 600 attorneys, law students, and volunteers to conduct the exit poll and to safeguard the voting rights of Asian Americans.