Make Your Vote Count: Register for a Political Party

By Lily Qi

Maryland has an unusually early primary election this year, June 24, about three months earlier than past elections. As the date gets closer, election campaign activities are heating up. It’s encouraging to see more Asian Americans getting involved in the political process, from hosting meet-n-greet to participating in fundraisers. What’s more remarkable is that most Asian-themed events, i.e. “Asian Americans for (whoever)” are populated by immigrant Asian Americans as they tend to organize themselves along ethnic lines more than the native-born Asian Americans.

We all know the importance of voting, and more Asian naturalized citizens are registered voters, yet hardly anyone is talking about the need to join political parties to make our votes really matter, especially in a state like Maryland. I can think of two important reasons for registering for a party. The first has to do with Maryland’s voting system and the second is a function of Maryland politics.

First, election systems differ from state to state. The Commonwealth of Virginia has an open primary system which allows any voters to vote for any candidates regardless of party lines, whereas Maryland has a closed primary system that only allows voting within ones’ own parties. If you are an independent voter in Maryland, you only get to vote for those candidates whose seats are not party-affiliated like school board members, sheriffs and judges in the primary. On June 24, your primary election ballot will not have any candidates running for Congress, Governor, County Executive, County Council, or State Senators or Delegates, as these seats all require voting by registered party members.

You may say, well, I will just wait until the General Election when the best candidates have been picked by their respective parties to decide who I want to vote for. That brings me the second point. In Maryland and several of its largest jurisdictions–Montgomery, Prince George’s, and Baltimore, the Democrats dominate local politics. As a result, the primary election is a far more important and competitive election when the winning candidates from the Democratic Party usually advance to victory with no serious matches from the Republican Party, which is outnumbered by Democrats by almost 3:1 in these particular communities (about 2:1 ratio statewide). If you skip the primary, you are letting others determine the outcomes that you have to live with.

I understand many people in our community are leery of joining parties. It’s probably the last thing on their priority list. Registering to vote is about as far as they would go because joining a party sounds so political and serious, and depending on where you came from, it can invoke unpleasant feelings or memories.

In this country, however, choosing party affiliations is a hassle-free process with no strings attached–you can simply check a box on voter registration form or complete that step while registering online. There are no selection processes, no background checks, no fees, and no initiation ceremonies to demand loyalty. Moreover, no one needs to know your party affiliation, much like who you have voted for or how much money you make. And you can change any time!

Nationwide, Asian Americans have a reputation of being largely swing voters, which has its disadvantages. We may not be taken seriously as political candidates realize that no matter how much they reach out to us, we don’t have the power to deliver the votes, especially in a closed primary state like Maryland because so few of us can vote for them as independent voters.

To make your vote count more, and make our community matter more, I am pleading you to take these three easy steps this year.

• Mark your calendar for June 24, 2014, the primary Election Day. Early voting starts June 12 through June 19 from 10 am until 8 pm at designated centers.
• Go to www.elections.state.md.us/voter_registration/ to register to vote and pick a party at the same time, the deadline is June 3.
• Show up to vote. Your one vote matters a lot more in this Mid-term election when voter turnout tends to be low.

While I am on this subject, let me add that if you are bilingual in any of the major non-English languages, consider signing up as a bi-lingual Election Judge to help voters who are not English-proficient.

Don’t sit on the fence. You’d be proud to have exercised your privilege as an American.

Lily Qi can be reached at qulturematters@gmail.com. To read her past columns, visit qulturematters.com.