My mom was lazy and didn’t register in time (plus she was afraid she would be called to jury duty). My brother was lazy and didn’t secure an absentee ballot in time. Is the brown turning out? From Rediff.com:
South Asians, including Indian Americans, turned up in unusually large numbers to vote in New York City, reflecting what observers say is a nationwide trend in the 2004 presidential election.
“I have not only taken part in election, but have been an observer for many years. I have never seen such huge number of people from the South Asian community standing in queue to cast votes,” said Morshed Alam, former NYC School Board member and commissioner for the city’s voter assistance commissioner. “This is just unbelievable.”
That’s what I like to hear.
“Between 10 and 11 in the morning I saw a huge number of people standing in queue. Almost 40 to 50 per cent of those standing in queue in PS (Public School) 131, were South Asian, including Indians and Bangladeshis and Pakistanis,” Alam said.
Alam said this indicated that South Asians were taking the presidential election more seriously than they had in the past.
“The reasons are very clear. A lot of people from our part of the world have serious concerns about the immigration and other policies of the Bush administration. The large turnout is a reflection of a desire for change,” he said.
Also make sure to keep tabs on the South Asian candidates in state elections. Here is a summary, although some on this list have long been out of the running.
OMIGOD! Fear of jury duty is EXACTLY why my mom (citizen since the 70s) never registered to vote. Last year, she called me: “Mollu, I’ve been called for jury duty!” I said “Great, now you can register to vote!” (not the sympathy she was expecting, I’m sure.)
Registering my mom to vote was on my list of things to do before I leave DC…but she beat me to it! My mom voted for the first time today. I know she did it for me, and I couldn’t be more proud of her.
-D
I’ve got a desi coworker who registered for the first time and whose single voting issue was…. Outsourcing.
I thought it was pretty weird since, ostensibly since he’s here and outsourced jobs are there, you could make the arg that he’d be against it (and thus should be a Kerry/Edwards voter).
BUT, it turns out his brother back in India works @ a Call Center.