I am an Indian-American. To be precise, I'm an aspiring Indian-American; my Green Card is in the process. I believe in participating in the political process, but unfortunately I can't do much until I get a Green Card (at which point I can donate to campaigns) or citizenship (at which point I will be able to vote). It literally hurts therefore, when I find people who have those rights not using them.
After the elections this month, I did an informal survey among the Indian Americans I know locally (Seattle/Redmond/Bellevue) who are citizens and could have voted. Out of roughly 50-60 people I asked (I know a lot of 'desis', as we call ourselves, in the area, but only a few of them are already citizens), only 3 had voted.
This is really unfortunate. Turnout in King County overall was more than 50% (http://www.metrokc.gov/...), so this informally collected figure of 6-8% is really dismal. Also, this is a demographic containing more and more eligible voters each year (as more people make it to citizenship), is growing every year in size (as more and more people immigrate from India) and is generally well educated and liberal (although one of the 3 actual voters that I know is a Bush supporter ... grrr).
I know it may not be a huge demographic yet, but I'd like to start raising awareness among my community, motivate people, and ensure better turnout in coming years. This is also a well-to-do community, so motivating them can be very beneficial in terms of campaign contributions. I'm going to get together with a couple of other 'desis' I know who are also interested and hopefully start something. However, having never done anything like this, I'm looking for some advice and help.
A word of caution: I'm a diehard liberal, but for now at least I want to keep partisanship out of this endeavour. Like I said, most of my community is liberal minded, but some of them aren't, and I don't want to exclude them at this point.
All hints, suggestions, etc. will be welcome.
Thanks.