We Count: Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, and South Asian (AMEMSA) Voters in Virginia
The November 2020 General Elections is a critical voting year for Arab, Muslim, Middle Eastern, and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities. Every single election year, politicians deploy political speech and rhetoric to further Islamophobia and the criminalization of Muslim communities in order to win votes. It is in this vein that JMC took on this nonpartisan civic engagement project to call 65,282 AMEMSA voters in Virginia by November 3rd.
Under the backdrop of a pandemic, our goal was to speak directly to our communities, figure out what issues are important to them, and ensure that they are informed about their right to vote in light of an escalation in voter suppression and intimidation efforts. As part of our power-building efforts, we positioned our civic engagement efforts as critical to building political power. Our civic engagement campaign also gave us an opportunity to go beyond speaking to our activist and organizer echo-chambers and hear from people who have never heard of us and aren't often plugged into organizing. Moreover, prior to COVID19, we used our Census campaign to learn more about neighborhoods in DC and Virginia where there is a substantial AMEMSA community presence. In order to complement our Census work, we intentionally focused on calling working-class and low-propensity AMEMSA voters in Northern Virginia. Read more in the brief above!
Resources for Emergency/Contingency
Find more information on how to vote in Virginia (https://www.elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/).
To track your ballot in Virginia follow (https://www.elections.virginia.gov/citizen-portal/)
If you witness voter suppression or anyone tries to stop you from exercising your right to vote please call the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-687-8683Planning Post-Election Scenario Resources
Bystander Intervention training – trainings for post-election response efforts
Hold The Line Trainings (https://holdthelineguide.com/)
Hold the Line has created a guide designed to help people from all walks of life take action to. There is a role for everyone in this effort, and your help is needed.DC Peace Teams: Bystander Intervention and Nonviolent Communication (https://dcpeaceteam.com). These sessions, by DC Peace Teams, will discuss the challenges that voters, election workers, demonstrators and others will face during the voting, vote counting, and results declaration periods, and how ABI and NVC tools may be used to protect the election process.
For those who are not eligible to vote (formerly incarcerated and have not had your voting rights restored, undocumented, or a non-citizen) you remain a critical part of our community. Organize with Justice for Muslims Collective, phonebank with us, and make your concerns heard by plugging into local work!
