The 2010 exit poll was conducted in five states with large or fast-growing Asian American populations: New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and Georgia. The five largest Asian ethnic groups polled were Chinese (42%), South Asian (25%), Korean (17%), Filipino (6%), and Vietnamese (3%). Among those polled, 60% of Asian Americans were registered Democrats, 19% were not enrolled in any political party, and 14% of Asian Americans were registered Republicans.
Here are some of AALDEF's findings:
AALDEF's volunteer attorneys also monitored almost fifty poll sites for compliance with the Voting Rights Act and Help America Vote Act. Some examples of voting problems observed on Election Day included:
In the traditionally Democratic northeastern states of New York and Massachusetts, Asian Americans voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates Andrew Cuomo in NY (Cuomo-82%, Paladino-13%) and Deval Patrick in MA (Patrick-84%, Baker-14%). Cuomo won the election 61% to 34%, and Patrick was re-elected with a 6-point margin, 48% to 42%. In New York, AALDEF's exit poll was conducted at 18 poll sites in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. In Massachusetts, AALDEF polled voters at 4 sites in Boston and Lowell.
In a carefully-watched New York State Senate race, Democratic candidate Tony Avella unseated long-time Republican incumbent Frank Padavan in Senate District 11 in Queens. Padavan had been criticized by community groups for his anti-immigrant positions. According to a local poll conducted by AALDEF community partner MinKwon Center for Community Action, 89% of Korean American voters favored Democratic candidate Avella, and 11% of those polled supported Padavan. Avella defeated Padavan by 53% to 47% of all district voters.
In Pennsylvania, among Asian American voters polled at 4 sites in Philadelphia's Chinatown and Upper Darby, PA, 78% voted for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato, with 18% supporting Republican candidate Tom Corbett. Corbett won 54% of the Pennsylvania vote, with 45% for Onorato.
Asian American voter preferences in Texas and Georgia more closely reflected the broader state electorates that have traditionally favored Republicans. Asian American voters favored the re-election of Republican Governor Rick Perry by a small margin (Perry-50%, White-48%); Perry was re-elected by a vote of 55% to 42%. In Georgia, Asian American voters favored Republican candidate Nathan Deal (50%) over Democratic candidate Roy Barnes (46%). Deal won the gubernatorial election 53% to 43%. Asian American voters in Texas were surveyed at 7 poll sites in Houston and Sugar Land. In Georgia, the AALDEF exit poll was conducted at 4 sites in the Atlanta area: Suwanee, Doraville, Norcross and Duluth.
New YorkI'm betting that's just the tip of the iceberg. For more information, go here. AALDEF has conducted exit polls of Asian American voters in every major election since 1988. Copies of AALDEF's past exit poll and election monitoring reports can be found at the AALDEF website here under "Voting Rights."
- Widespread complaints about the illegible paper ballots in New York City, because Chinese/Korean characters and English-language fonts were too small
- In Manhattan's Chinatown, I.S. 131 had only English and Korean-language voting instructions available for the predominantly Chinese American voters at this site.
- Asian American voters complained about rude conduct by poll workers at I.S. 131 in Manhattan's Chinatown and P.S. 94 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn
- Despite federal mandates under the Voting Rights Act, several interpreter shortages were reported, including at P.S. 20 in Manhattan's Lower East Side (no Chinese interpreters; 3 required); P.S. 12 in Woodside, Queens (2 Chinese interpreters; 4 required)
Pennsylvania
- At Benjamin Franklin House in Philadelphia, an Asian American couple came to vote; the wife's name was on the voter list, her husband's name was not. Poll workers turned away the husband and did not give him a provisional ballot, as required under HAVA.
- At Lowell Elementary School in Philadelphia, Khmer and Vietnamese translators were not present at the poll site. When Cambodian American voters asked for assistance, poll workers did not know what to do or referred them to some hotline without any instructions.
- Also at Lowell Elementary School in Philadelphia, an Asian American voter needed her son to help her vote because she was limited English proficient. She was told to wait over an hour until after several others voted.