At Pacific Ties, we showcase rich and diverse stories about the Asian Pacific Islander Desi American community on and off campus through news and commentary. We create an on-going dialogue that offers insight into the dynamics of being an APIDA. Pacific Ties serves to challenge the perceptions of APIDA identity as well as to celebrate the achievements of the communities we all have ties to.
Each quarter, we are assigned to a different series. These series can vary between shorter features to personal narratives to long-form research pieces.
I joined Pacific Ties because I am passionate about highlighting untold cultural stories and making them more accessible. After writing for Pacific Ties for one academic quarter, I was promoted to Staff Writer where I plan on continuing to advocate for our community and make our voices heard.
This article was a part of the Pac Tie-Cal Matters series in which my job was to go through previous archived issues and write about how times have changed in the APIDA community.
In the past decade, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have gone from being the least represented community among voters to having the greatest increase in voter turnout.
In a Pacific Ties article titled “Events raise voter awareness in API community,” published in the Fall 2010 issue, writer Cherry To explored the low AAPI voter engagement.
“Despite the continuing increase in population, the API community is #1 in voter non-turnout, especially among young voters,” she wrote.
According to Pew Research Center, only 31% of Asian Americans voted in 2010.
In contrast, AAPI voting turnout saw the biggest increase out of all ethnic groups in the United States in 2020, according to NPR.