Houston Ethnic Media held a Get Out the Vote Briefing with local community organizations on September 19, 2024. They shared vital information and statistics that all voters should know, along with their goals, challenges, and limitations and the strategies they’ve developed for addressing their issues.
Organizations that participated included the League of Women Voters, Mi Familia en Accion, Alief Votes, WooriJuntos, Houston in Action, OCA Greater Houston and EMGAGE.
The League of Women Voters started the conversation with their Executive Director, Katie Campbell Shumway. She shared information on their nonpartisan Voters Guide that is distributed at libraries, churches and various events and candidate conversations across the city. The Voters Guide is a valuable paper chock full of information on topics like how to vote and the various methods, what ID to take to the polls, what voter harassment looks like and helpful contacts and websites. For more info, visit lwvtexas.org.
The next organization represented was WooriJuntos. The Executive Director, Hyunja Norman shared challenges that are often faced in the Korean community. They included misinformation, not enough info available in the Korean language, not enough credible people to or organizations to assist in times of great need (i.e. natural disasters, heat waves, etc.). Language access is one of the biggest challenges faced and WooriJuntos is working diligently to change this.
Houston in Action’s director of communications, Chris Valdez, shared one of their top goals is to increase access to social participation. “This year we have a offices on the ballot that determine the quality of life … there is a unique opportunity to bring people into voting… first time young voters… how do we turn Houston into a “city of voters,” asked Valdez.
Deborah Chen from OCA Greater Houston shared how SB1 (voter suppression legislation passed during last session) has negatively impacted their organization. She shared, “People are scared… we are scared… in fear of being criminally liable for trying to help or being asked to help by a citizen.”
Jesus Zamora, TX Field Manager for Mi Familia en Accion, explained how they are working to make language access easier and more efficient. Zamora shared, “We are in senior classes (in Alief ISD) educating students on what each office does and can do for them… also educating the students to pass on info their family members.”
Abby Gail Trino, executive director of AliefVotes and Oyindamola Akintola, Student with AliefVotes, shared that District F is somewhat of a forgotten district and they use true grassroots efforts of going out and talking to students about the importance of student voting.
The last speaker, AJ Durrani, from EMGAGE shared how the organization works with Arab, Middle Easterners, Asians, African Americans and Hispanics. Durrani said, “We used to think ‘if we can just talk to people in our community, we will encourage them to vote… but now, we have widened our net and talk to everyone and encourage everyone to vote.”
Community organizations play a crucial role in mobilizing voters and addressing local challenges. During this briefing, they provided insights on voter demographics, common barriers to voting, and effective outreach strategies. – Kim Floyd
