As much as I’d love to claim I always drink in the full humanity of every person on first encounter, I really can’t. Some days I’m just a fallible mom who’s risen at 5am to set up the Asian American Exit Poll at a polling site in the middle of Paterson’s Bangladeshi American community, who arrives and sees only a half dozen youth volunteers to be wrangled. Syed (not his real name) was among them that morning, and if I registered him at all, it was as a slight green stalk of teenage boy, perhaps a shade more diligent and reserved than the others. Clipboards in hand, he and the other stalks approached voters as they walked down the driveway or returned to their cars, asking them to complete a survey on their views and voting experience, sometimes hearing yes, more often no.
Then four older women wearing kameez pulled up to vote in a well-traveled white sedan. When they exited the polling site and saw Syed in the cluster of youths awaiting them, they broke into smiles and called his name in a way that instantly pulled him out of my undercaffeinated haze and into sharp focus: not one stalk in a bunch, but a beloved member of a family in this singular time and place, someone’s hope and joy and whole world. In their greeting one could hear their pride in this boy with all his awkwardness and angles, and their tenderness for the ways he was still growing into his promise. All four aunties stopped and completed the surveys, of course, with Syed helping to explain the questions in Bengali. One of the questions they answered would have been about their reasons for voting: cost of living, housing, healthcare? But it was also easy to sense the more fundamental truth our survey couldn’t capture: they voted for him.
If we need evidence that hope is more natural to the human heart than despair, surely it’s there in whatever drew those four women to vote in a mayoral primary election, and to fill out a survey for their beloved boy–just as it’s in whatever draws dozens of volunteers every Election Day out of their beds and day jobs to help lift up the voices of Asian American voters and protect their voting rights through the Asian American Exit Poll, which AAPI NJ has conducted with the support of AALDEF and other partners since 2021.
This hope somehow persists despite the many discouraging violations we’ve seen while exit polling. We’ve seen Asian American voters turned away for not bringing ID that they shouldn’t have been required to provide. We’ve found them crying tears of rage and frustration after being denied the right to help translate the ballot for their family members. We’ve documented signs pointing the wrong direction, failures to deliver mandatory language access, and poll workers and challengers in alarming states of meltdown. Each observation was not only reported in real time, but informed over four years of advocacy for the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act–a historic state voting rights act that was at last signed into law by Governor Sherrill on July 2, 2026.
Hope may be natural, but it doesn’t always make for the easiest life. Over the years, it called our community members to the state house to walk the halls with our multiracial coalition, lobbying for a long, dense bill that few lawmakers understood at first. They gave up their lunch hours to learn about the bill and call their state legislators. When it looked like the bill was in danger of losing its language access provisions, they stood up and refused to let AAPI voters be sacrificed to political expediency.
Because of these community members, and our allies’ unflagging solidarity, New Jersey’s voting rights bill passed with some of the strongest language access provisions in the country. (Someday soon, as our numbers grow, Syed’s family members may be able to vote in Bengali.) Federal voting rights may be suffering death by a thousand cuts, but here in New Jersey, voters are now protected by one of the most powerful and comprehensive state voting rights acts in the nation. Another place hope can take us when we allow it to pull us along, it turns out, is a little closer to the world as it should be.
Most of us would agree that voters should pick their leaders, and not the other way around. As certain forces attempt to hold onto power by controlling who gets to vote–through unlawful attempts to purge voter rolls, disrupt mail-in voting, and other sad chicanery–we have plenty to keep an eye out for, but no reason to trade hope for fear, as long as Asian Americans in New Jersey keep showing up for each other. Have you seen what we can do? Have you met Syed? He’s growing into his power.
Join Us
9/22, 12-1pm: Protect Voting Rights In Your Community (Virtual Training)
9/29, 12-1pm: In the Room Where it Happens: Board of Elections Meeting (Virtual Training)
Visit our Mobilize page to view more volunteer opportunities or email advocacy@aapinewjersey.org for the latest info.
Questions about voting?
View Key Dates and Voting Info
1-886-OUR-VOTE (English)
1-888-API-VOTE (Asian languages spoken)
We Are Here to Help
If you are an Asian American or Pacific Islander in New Jersey who is navigating voting-related issues, AAPI NJ and our partner AALDEF are here to provide free, confidential support and referrals. Please email advocacy@aapinewjersey.org; support in Asian languages available.
