By Aswad Walker
A group of lawmakers and voting rights advocates came together recently to make the case for why voting today is more important than it has even been; especially in the face of growing voter apathy in communities of color.
Houston made it through the March 5 primaries. But just barely. And by just barely, I mean only slightly more than 375,000 people cast votes to determine who will represent the Democratic and Republican parties in the all-important local, state, and national 2024 elections coming up this November. The breakdown: 211,223 voted early and roughly 164,000 voted on March 5.
That’s 15% of all 2.5 million eligible Harris County voters. And with the breaking news that Black voter participation has decreased for the first time in eight major election cycles. This disturbing reality is due in large part to SCOTUS overturning the all-important Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act (Shelby County v. Holder, June 25, 2013) that literally protected votes coming from those belonging to historically discriminated against groups (i.e. Black people).
Another major factor leading to the decreased Black voting rate is the tsunami of voter suppression laws and tactics that have been employed since that SCOTUS decision, mainly by, but not limited to former Confederate states.
At the “Why the Ethnic Vote Matters” virtual briefing, organized by Houston Ethnic Media, influential figures from Harris County and Fort Bend discussed the critical role of the Black, Hispanic, and Asian vote in upcoming elections.
This event showcased personal stories and insights from elected officials and advocates, underscoring the significant influence of ethnic communities in shaping the political future.
Panelists included Teneshia Hudspeth, Harris County Clerk; Penny Morales Shaw, State Representative, 148th District in the Texas House of Representatives; Gene Wu, State Representative, District 137 in the Texas House; Jeffrey L. Boney, City Councilmember, Missouri City; and AJ Durrani, treasurer of EMGAGE-TX, a family of civic and political institutions dedicated to strengthening the engagement of Muslim Americans in the civic and political process.
Ever since COVID, our community has seen an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Violence against our community has gone up 700%. We will come together as a coalition, and we will vote.
Gene Wu, Texas State Representative
During the recent primaries, Hudspeth raised her voice to raise voter participation.
“Right now, out of 2.5 million registered voters, only over 30,000 have voted early in person and by mail in the state of Texas,” Hudspeth said. “What’s most important is getting voters activated to understand that this is just one election that continues throughout the entire year until we get to November.”
But now that the primaries are in the rearview mirror, energy and effort must be directed towards getting those voting numbers up come November. And according to Shaw, each and every vote matters.
Literally.
“In my election, I had five races… and ultimately I won by 200 votes,” said Shaw. “If your vote didn’t really matter, there wouldn’t be all of this aggressive legislation to curtail voting. No vote, no voice.”
Durrani reiterated that point.
“In the 2020 election in Georgia, Biden won by 12,000 votes. Roughly 61,000 Muslims had voted. If they had not voted in his favor, he may not have won Georgia.”
He added, “The Muslim vote can be a swing factor, the margin of victory, and more so in these elections.”
So too can the Asian vote and Black vote. And if they join forces with the Hispanic vote, according to Wu, we have already witnessed the power of this coalition.
“Fort Bend was broadly controlled by Republicans and by old white dudes for the entire history of Fort Bend,” shared Wu. “And then all of a sudden, African American community, Asian community, Latino community rose up and said, ‘enough!’”
Wu added that the Asian community has even more motivation to vote in 2024.
“Ever since COVID, our community has seen an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. Violence against our community has gone up 700%. We will come together as a coalition, and we will vote.”
Boney summed up the importance of 2024 and beyond active and engaged voter participation from the Black community and other ‘ethnic’ communities, saying “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
This post was originally published on Houston Defender.