Indian-American groups launch voting campaigns ahead of midterm elections

Ahead of the midterm elections early in November, two Indian American groups launched a voting campaign for their community

Ahead of the midterm elections early in November, two Indian American groups on Wednesday launched a voting campaign for their community.

Indian Americans account for over one per cent of the country's population and have one of the highest per capita incomes among ethnic groups.

While they are concentrated in some of the major states like New York, New Jersey, California, and Texas, their votes might turn out to be decisive in case of close races in the states of Florida, Atlanta, and Pennsylvania.

The Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), a US-based non-profit institution for policy research and awareness, launched the #IndoAmericanVotesMatter campaign to increase the participation of American voters in the US 2022 elections.

On this launch, Professor Ved Nanda, a distinguished law professor at Denver University and a FIIDS advisor said: As an immigrant minority, it is not only a civic duty, but it is also imperative for Indo-Americans to vote in the elections to get their voice heard.

FIIDS said it encourages more participation in the election to augment Indo-Americans' influence on policy matters.

"Both Democrats and Republicans should recognise the importance of Indo-Americans as they are concentrated in critical races spanning states such as Florida, Georgia, Arizona, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, and California."

"This campaign targeted outreach to leaders of 1000+ Indo-American organisations to propagate this message to their two million members. We are also launching media advertisements and social media campaigns," said FIIDS director Khanderao Kand.

"It is important for Indo-Americans to participate in the electoral voting process to ascertain our rights, especially many issues of religiophobia and discrimination against Indo-Americans and a negative campaign against India," emphasised Dr Sampath Shivangi, chairman of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPIO) and a patron of FIIDS.

In another development, HinduPACT announced the launch of its HinduVote.org website to help voters select Federal candidates based on their support for issues that are important to the Hindu diaspora.

The comprehensive website, the first of its kind in the history of the American Hindu community, consists of a location-based listing of candidates for the House of Representatives and US Senate, biographical and social media details of the candidates, responses from the candidates on a Hindu-focused questionnaire, and HinduPACT's assessment of legislative votes that are deemed of importance by the incumbents and federal candidates.

The website uses the power of crowdsourcing to express the sentiment of the Hindu community by providing the constituents with an opportunity to rate the candidates based on the positions they have taken.

The American Hindu community is peaceful, affluent and productive. They are, in many ways, the model community in any society in which they reside. They have held massive economic power in their hands for some time now. This HinduVote initiative is the first step in claiming the political power that they should have been afforded a while ago, said Rakhi Israni, director of Legal for Hindu Pact.

According to Ajay Shah, convener of HinduPACT, there are six million Hindus in America and an additional six million followers of dharmic traditions (Buddhist, Jain and Sikhs).

Conservatively, we estimate that around five per cent of the voters are the followers of dharmic traditions, he said.

In battleground states and in close races elsewhere, these voters can decisively impact the outcome. HinduVote.org is a community resource to inform and educate the Hindu community and to ensure a Congress that understands, respects and fulfils the aspirations of the American Hindu community, Shah said.

As the fastest growing immigrant population in the US amongst all religious groups, American Hindus now constitute one of the most decisive voting groups in at least five states. That means many close Senate races will be decided by the Hindu voter. Because of concentrated voters in many districts, a lot more House seats will be decided by Hindu voters. HinduVote.org will change the way constituents evaluate, engage with and ultimately vote for candidates, said Utsav Chakrabarti, HinduPACT executive director.