Map of the Day: Increases in Voters from Ethnic Groups

The NY Times has a feature on the changing face of the city electorate, finding that "New immigrants accounted for at least one-third of the increase in the number of New York City voters since 2004, while the number of Irish, Italian and Jewish voters, who together represent the traditional core of the city’s political establishment, decreased slightly." Which suggests that strategies used to win certain City Council districts or other elected offices may not succeed during the 2009 election year.

One political consultant tells the Times, "What you’ll see is a district-by-district, block-by-block struggle for votes. The ethnic mosaic has become that much more colorful and complicated as the once-solid bloc of ethnic voters in the city became more diluted.” Another said candidates will need to make their "on-the-ground outreach" "ethnic-specific," since there are many different nationalities lumped under the "Latino" or "Asian" designations."

And New York Immigration Coalition's executive director Chung-Hwa Hung said of his organization's plan to educate 40,000 immigrant voters, “Remember: All you need are 5,000 votes to win a City Council seat. And that’s well within reach of our electoral machine.”

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on July 13, 2008 3:46 PM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

It's also difficult for the Census Bureau to count illegal immigrants so they apply a formula and calculate their estimates. Many cities are disputing those methods and claim a huge undercount in the figures. So if these communities are actually much larger and voter participation is weighted towards legal immigrants and citizens, then what are we to make of these numbers? There is too much anecdotal evidence that people entering the country from Latin America come for the jobs and often return home when seasonal employment dries up, or for personal reasons. It sounds "ignorant" but there it is. Not all immigrant communities are alike and applying the same Mario Cuomo conventional wisdom to these issues only obfuscates the reality. But point taken: if blanket citizenship were bestowed upon these groups, their voter participation would rise.

JRod5417

"They come for the jobs and that's about it."

That's a pretty ignorant statement and I 'm not too sure what study or poll that is based upon. Getting citizenship ain't easy if you are here illegally. The illegality also makes it difficult to vote just so you know.

ANGRYGOD11

#4

Except for Native-Americans facing elimination, no American ethnic group faced a harsher system than southern African-Americans for about 100 years. But, they had enough faith in the system to march for their rights while the local police attacked children in broad daylight and the KKK attacked at night.

A little perspective goes a long way.

JacqueMehoff

yep, I let everyone vote.

NO ID NEEDED. EVER.

tsol

So illegal immigrants get to vote now? Or is it only when ACORN signs them up?

duanereade

Not if you've lost your faith in the system. If the police were to plant evidence in your house, are you going to call them when you're attacked? Sure, they could help you. But would you be stubborn, crazy, or resilient enough to trust after you've been taken advantage of?

You're absolutely right. Voting would help tremendously. But when you've been trained that your voice is meaningless, due to a language barrier or otherwise, it's hard to summon the hope for change.

I also believe you have to be a citizen to vote. Figuratively and legally, illegal aliens are second-class citizens. The only realistic option is to leave an oppressive regime with no hope of class mobility for a less oppressive one with a slim chance of mobility. Which would you pick?

bclm

"[1], maybe they are frustrated with the institutions which intentionally maintain and create policies designed to hurt them."

Then that should be incentive enough to register adn vote in huge numbers. There are enough of them that they could instantly have the clout and influence to change the institutions to act fairer towards them. If they have the chance to do so and choose not to exercise it, they get no sympathy.

duanereade

[1], maybe they are frustrated with the institutions which intentionally maintain and create policies designed to hurt them.

Besides, we're talking about percentages, not number of voters. If the number of those goddamn Mexicans triples, then the number of Mexican immigrants who registered to vote must also triple with it just to break even.

And, studies have shown that those goddamn Mexicans often work two 32-hour jobs. That's 64 hours (of manual labor), instead of a typical 40-hour week (spent mostly on Gothamist). Except they don't get paid nearly as much and receive no benefits. And it's not because they're "incompetent" or "unskilled"; they didn't have the opportunity and experience of generations before them to figure out how to succeed in a new country.

It's easy to keep blaming the victim, so just keep it up. Don't bother trying to do anything complicated like finding out why these statistics are true, and definitely not how to fix them. Just keep believing that all Mexicans are hopelessly lazy and that nobody is built quite like the white man.

NannyState

Look at those hispanic figures. This is probably the fastest growing ethnicity in NY yet their voting participation has gone up only 4%. Many analysts say that of all immigrant groups, hispanics, particularly Mexicans have the most ambivalent attitudes toward participating in american institutions. They come for the jobs and that's about it.