Defending Asian & Arab American voting rights -- Election Day volunteers needed!

Asian and Arab American Election Protection and Poll Monitoring
Defending Asian American Voting Rights

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Trainings
Wednesday, October 22, 12 Noon – Dickinson Wright PLLC, 500 Woodward Ave., Detroit
Wednesday, October 22, 3:00 PM – Dickinson Wright PLLC, 38525 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills
Wednesday, October 22, 6:00 PM – University of Michigan, Michigan Union, 530 S. State Street., Ann Arbor
Saturday, November 1, 4:00 PM - Philippine American Community Center of MI, 17356 Northland Park Ct., Southfield

In past elections, Asian and Arab Americans have faced a series of barriers in exercising their right to vote. In addition, candidates and the news media have often overlooked the Asian American vote. In response, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund has monitored the elections for compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act, which mandates bilingual ballots and forbids anti-Asian voter discrimination, and conducted a non-partisan multilingual survey of voters to document Asian and Arab American voting patterns.

In 2004, 1,200 volunteers polled almost 11,000 Asian and Arab American voters in eight states. Volunteers are needed to administer a multilingual voter survey in 3-hour shifts and document voting problems on Election Day. Polls are open from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

There will be a one-hour training session for all volunteers in various locations. (90-minutes with CLE credits). All volunteers must be non-partisan during the time they help. To sign up and for a training schedule, go to www.aaldef.net or complete the volunteer form attached or/and pasted below, and send it to apia.right2vote@gmail.com or Gurtej Singh, c/o Navtej Singh, Affinity Solutions, LLC, P.O. Box 380832, Clinton Township, MI 48038. Thank you!

VOLUNTEER SIGN-UP FORM

NAME: _____________________________________________________
ADDRESS: __________________________________________________
CITY: __________________________ STATE: ________ ZIP: _______
EMAIL: ______________________________________________________
PHONE: daytime ____________________ evening __________________
ORG./CO./SCHL./ASS'N: _______________________________________
ARE YOU?
___ Undergraduate student ___ Graduate student ___ Law student
___ Attorney ___ High school student ___ Community volunteer

WHERE DO YOU MOST PREFER TO BE STATIONED? (rank if multiple): ___No preference
___Detroit ___Hamtramck ___Ann Arbor ___Dearborn
___Canton ___Troy ___Novi ___No preference/Wherever most needed.

DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO A CAR TO DRIVE TO YOUR SITE? []Yes []No
Some sites are not accessible by public transportation.

ON TUESDAY, NOV. 4, WHEN ARE YOU AVAILABLE TO VOLUNTEER? (rank 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.)
___6:00 - 9:00 am ___9:00 am – 12 N ___12 N - 3:00 pm ___Not yet sure.
___ 3:00 - 6:00 pm ___6:00 – 9:00 pm ___Other_________ ___Willing to do multiple shifts.

ARE YOU BILINGUAL IN ANY ASIAN LANGUAGE/DIALECT? (check all that apply)
Language ability is not required to volunteer but can be very helpful.
___Cantonese ___ Mandarin ___Korean ___Tagalog ___Japanese
___Hindi ___ Gujarati ___Punjabi ___Bengali ___Urdu
___Vietnamese ___Khmer ___Malayalam ___Arabic ___Hmong
___None ___Other_________

ARE YOU?
___ Past Volunteer: Year_____________
___ Partnering with another volunteer: Name _____________ (times must match).

You will be notified of trainings and other logistics upon receipt of this form.

RETURN THIS FORM TO:
AALDEF Election Protection Project- Michigan
Mail: Gurtej Singh, c/o Navtej Singh, Affinity Solutions, LLC, P.O. Box 380832, Clinton Township, MI 48038
Email: apia.right2vote@gmail.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Gurtej Singh, apia.right2vote@gmail.com, (586) 354-3575
Napapond Fay, michiganfellow@apiavote.org, (248) 895-4107

OR

Glenn D. Magpantay, Bryan Lee, or Julia Yang
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
99 Hudson Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10013
800-966-5946 /info@aaldef.org