Our Projects

The MAA Coalition Voter Education Project
(Fall 2002)

"For once I wasn't scared."
- Voter participant

Project Goals

The project was designed to:

1 - Help refugees and immigrants understand why voting is important. Included in this process is helping refugees and immigrants understand that they need to advocate on behalf of themselves, their families and their communities, and the can have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives by being active and educated voters.

2- Educate immigrants and refugees about the electoral process, enabling them to understand and participate in the upcoming election.

The Need for Voter Education

This project grew from a recognition that there are several large hurdles that must be overcome in efforts to increase the participation of immigrants in elections. One major problem is that some immigrants and refugees do not vote because they do not fully understand the system of democracy. Even after they have become American citizens and are eligible to vote, they may not see connections between voting and decisions about funding programs that matter to them. For some this is a result of their experience in their home country, which may not have had a history of people being able to hold the government accountable. For example, individuals from Somalia, where no elections were held for over 30 years, come to this country with little or no experience of participating in a democracy. For this reason, they may be unaware of even the kind of questions they need to ask about their own participation in an election. The same holds true for other African immigrant communities (Sudanese, Liberian, Ethiopian), as well as for communities such as the Vietnamese and the Haitian. A second major problem is that the logistical aspects of voting are harder for citizens whose first language is not English, and who may be voting for the first time. All voters must know how and where to register, where to go to vote, and how to vote once they get in the polls.

Project Participants

The Voter Education Project was designed to reach out to these newer groups by means of the Mutual Assistance Associations (MAAs) that service these communities. Since the MAAs are the resources that community members rely on for assistance in understanding and interacting with various systems (such as education, housing, health care, etc.), the MAAs are most viable vehicle for educating community members about voting. Voter education drives led by MAAs have been successful because they explained the importance of voting in a way that their communities could understand. For example, MAA staff can talk to people in their native language, and can draw on a mutual understanding of the community's cultural beliefs and political history. Newer and smaller communities can follow this same strategy, but may need help in implementing it. For this reason, rather than being an effort of individual MAAs, the Voter Education Project was coordinated by the Massachusetts MAA Coalition.

The following centers participated in this voter education project.

- The Vietnamese American Civic Association (VACA)
- The Somali Development Center (SDC)
- The Haitian American Public Health Initiative (HAPHI)
- Universal Human Rights International (UHRI)
- Refugee and Immigrant Resource Center (RIAC)
- Russian Community Association of Massachusetts (RCAM)
- The Ethiopian Community Mutual Assistance Association (ECMAA)

Efforts/Activities of the Voter Education Project

Objective One: Helping refugees and immigrants understand why voting is important.

Each of the MAAs held meetings at their centers to reach and educate their communities about voting. For example, SDC held 10 mini-sessions that dealt with all aspects of why it is important to vote. VACA, RIAC, UHRI and RCAM all relied upon their role as a centers of community activity to conduct similar meetings. HAPHI staff integrated the project into classes that were already meeting at the center, and also went out into the community to give talks at locations where Haitians gather. For example, they held a voter drive at Temple Salem that attracted over 100 participants. UHRI services a diverse group of immigrants, and so it led
an event with people from Congo, Kenya, Cameroon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Benin, Sudan, Ghana, Burundi, and Rwanda. To make sure participants were able to communicate with each other and with invited speakers, UHRI arranged to have interpreters for seven languages: Dan, Mano, French, Swahili, Mandingo, Bassa, and Dinka. Again, this type of strategy is used to maximize outreach.
At all of these meetings staff presented important information, and answered any questions that participants had. Using participants' native languages allowed for a freer discussion, and center staff were able to answer questions in greater detail. Community meetings were also used as a vehicle to bring in guest speakers, including candidates for office. This allowed participants to dialogue directly with politicians and others involved in electoral politics. VACA held a meeting of candidates, and participants included Shannon O'Brien, and Jack Hart. Marie St. Fleur visited an ESL class at VACA, and Kelly Healy spoke with participants at VACA sponsored event. Charles Yancey of the Boston City Council spoke at HAPHI, and State Representative Benjamin Swan and City Councilor Chuck Turner spoke at UHRI.
Two agencies (RCAM and VACA) wrote articles for native language newspapers that dealt with voting issues. VACA also translated materials such as "Why Vote?" and "10 Reasons to Vote", and staff stood outside their center holding up signs in Vietnamese reminding people to vote. HAPHI worked with Boston VOTE to translate some of its materials about the 2002 ballot questions and about candidates. Each week for three months ECMAA used its Sunday radio show to connect to the Ethiopian community. ECMAA estimates the audience for the show to be over 7000 people. SDC used its own local access television show to reach the Somali community, and dedicated time on five shows broadcast prior to the election to deal with voting issues. VACA also broadcast a series of shows on Viet-TV. HAPHI worked with two television stations (TeleKreyol and TeleDyaspora), and 13 different Haitian operated radio stations. By working with so many stations, HAPHI staff estimates that it was able to average six public service announcements about voting per day.

To organize the community forums and translation of materials, participating agencies had to collaborate with a number of other organizations.
Below is a partial list:

Boston VOTE
Greater Boston Legal Services
The Vietnamese American Voters' League.
The Community Development Corporation
Massachusetts Community Partnerships
MIRA
Office for New Bostonians
Boston Election Commission

Objective Two: Educating immigrants and refugees about the electoral process.

The MAAs in the Voter Education Project efforts to educate their communities about the electoral process focused on two steps: registering to vote, and how to vote at the polling station.
Getting members of their community registered to vote was the main concern of most of the MAAs. VACA set up tables at a local market frequented by Vietnamese shoppers, encouraging people to register. They also worked with the Office for New Bostonians to set up signs reminding people to register. At VACA itself they helped people fill out the registration forms, and made them available in both Vietnamese and in English. VACA also worked with MIRA to register newly naturalized citizens right after their swearing in. SDC worked with the city of Boston and Boston VOTE, and registered over 200 people. HAPHI worked with the Community Development Corporation, and the Massachusetts Community Partnerships, and served as a drop in registration center. Because HAPHI was able to promote this drop-in service on Haitian language radio stations, it was a popular way for Haitians to register to vote.
The MAAs also worked to educate their community about what happens when they step into the voting booth. VACA received and distributed materials about voting machines. This included information about the ballot questions, and how voting for ballot questions is conducted. SDC brought an actual voting machine into their center, and held a training session in which they went over the mechanics of voting with participants. This was the first time most of the participants had seen a voting machine, and they found it helpful to be able to practice voting before they had to step into the booth by themselves. One participant noted that, "It is not as difficult as people portrayed it to be."

"It is not as difficult as people portrayed it to be."

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