OneAmerica Votes sees its efforts pay off in Murray-Rossi race
The new immigrant-voter group helped boost Latino voter turnout in support of Sen. Patty Murray. Now it plans to help hold elected officials accountable.
OneAmerica Votes
More than a week after the election, with the votes tallied and either celebrated or mourned, the Seattle-based immigrant organization OneAmerica Votes views the results as a sign that its hard work has paid off — but that its job is far from finished.
“With this election, what we’ve finally been able to demonstrate is that immigrant voters are engaged,” said Pramila Jayapal, head of OneAmerica Votes (OAV), an offshoot of the influential immigrant-rights advocacy group, OneAmerica.
OAV, which was formed earlier this year, launched one of the largest get-out-the-vote campaigns in Washington. Through home visits, phone banks and mailings the organization and its volunteers reached more than 162,000 registered voters across the state.
“In Patty Murray’s close race we saw that voters reached by OneAmerica Votes turned up at higher rates,” Jayapal said.
According to OAV statistics, Latino voters within the OAV target universe were turning out up to 7 percent higher than Latinos who were not contacted by the organization. Additionally, those Latino voters reached by OAV supported Patty Murray at a rate of 74.4 percent.
“Murray consistently supported issues important to immigrants across the state,” Jayapal explained. “Rossi, on the other hand, didn’t.”
Looking to the future, Jayapal said, “We have a vision to build an organization that can educate immigrant voters and educate candidates on critical issues. Now that the elections are done, we’re going to take this incredible effort to hold candidates accountable, bring in more volunteers and reach out more and more.”
The group plans to work on issues that affect immigrants everyday, such as healthcare and education.
OAV volunteer Faith Sims, who turned 18 just days before the election, helped the campaign through phone-banking and canvassing. “I did what I could to support the Democrats and to support what I believe in,” she said. “We got the candidate I wanted, but I’m not happy with some of the initiatives. But there’s always next year.”
Sims said she will continue to work on these issues even if she might leave the state for college next year.
A Native American, Sims said she enjoyed working with people of all backgrounds. “The diversity at OneAmerica is amazing. I loved the environment there.”
Last month, OAV landed in the middle of a controversy when The Seattle Times ran an Associated Press article headlined “In Washington, illegal immigrants canvassing for Democrats.”
The article spotlighted OAV volunteer Maria Gianni, an undocumented immigrant canvassing for Sen. Patty Murray.
The conservative media jumped on the story, sparking a debate on the involvement of undocumented immigrants in U.S. politics.
“There are lots of people that can’t vote. We know that line and we would never cross that line,” Jayapal said. “It’s crazy to me that people who can’t vote — either because they’re too young or because they can’t legally — shouldn’t be involved in campaigning.”
Sims agreed: “Illegal or not, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be able to serve the community.”
The real story is that immigrant voters are engaged and immigrant issues do matter, Jayapal said.
“The press wasn’t a terrible thing for our organization, as it at least informed people of our efforts,” she said. “It got people scratching their heads saying, ‘Wait, they (the conservative media) don’t want people to be engaged and knock on our neighbors’ doors?’ In the end, the work that we do was validated.”
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Comments:
Posted Sat, Nov 13, 8:34 a.m. Inappropriate
I agree:
"The new immigrant-voter group helped boost Latino voter turnout in support of Sen. Patty Murray. Now it plans to help hold elected officials accountable."
I will ask all elected officials at the State level why they still issue Drivers licenses or any other form of license or State documentation to illegal aliens. I will ask them why they do not currently verify citizenship or actual residency for eligibility for State benefits.
I will ask all Federally elected officials, why they continue to send Federal funds to jurisdictions that do not verify citizenship when dispensing services, benefits and funds as agents for Federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid. I will ask them to also explain the logic behind sending Federal dollars to Jusrisdictions that refuse to cooperate with Federal immigration control programs and declare themselves Sanctuaries.
Posted Sat, Nov 13, 5:55 p.m. Inappropriate
When illegal aliens are identified, they should be deported, rather than being allowed to subvert our democracy. The fact that the Obama administration won't enforce our immigration laws is unforgivable, but understandable with all the new Democrat voters they represent. Really sad that so much of the Hispanic community is embracing lawlessness and dependancy, rather than self-reliance and the rule of law.
Posted Sun, Nov 14, 3:36 p.m. Inappropriate
Sad, yes; but not surprising, given that that's the culture they grew up with in Mexico. In the past, people came to America to become Americans. If these people can't be assimilated as Americans, they have little positive contribution to make, and they need to be sent home. It may be unfashionably selfish, but American immigration policy has traditionally been about what's best for America, not what's best for those fleeing their "homelands." If we turn that on its head, America will suffer.
Posted Mon, Nov 15, 7:53 a.m. Inappropriate
To balance the budget and squelch divisiveness we should end the tax-exempt section of the tax code. Tell your congressman that you want OneAmerica's tax-exempt status rescinded.
Posted Mon, Nov 15, 11:02 a.m. Inappropriate
I think everybody whose parents linage was not on this continent in the year 6,000BC is an illegal immigrant and should be deported somewhere else immediately.
After all why should anyone whose great grandparents came here and stole the land from those who were here first be allowed to stay? After all, just because you claim to be born here as the right to stay is ridiculous. Your great grand parents (way back) committed a crime for which they were not prosecuted, therefore your presence is also illegal. Your birth gives you no rights to possessing stolen property.
Posted Mon, Nov 15, 11:32 a.m. Inappropriate
Great Gary, post you address and La Raza has a couple dozen people to come over and live with you. You don't get to know who they are, where they are from, thier health or education status and you don't get to control how many more of them get to come and stay with you. Now you get to support all of these people, you are responsible for thier healthcare, food, education, legal issues and housing. You don't get to send them away, they get to stay as long as they like. Just pay up and shut up according to your government.
Posted Mon, Nov 15, 12:14 p.m. Inappropriate
Sometimes I wish that all the illegal immigrants in this country just disappeared for a while, so we legal Americans could then see and feel just how much work wouldn't get done. The crops that wouldn't get picked, the buildings that wouldn't get built, the factories that would suddenly be short-staffed, etc., etc.
After that experience, I suspect some of the hardliners would soften just a bit and set aside their angry rhetoric, and instead choose to work for workable solutions.
Posted Mon, Nov 15, 12:37 p.m. Inappropriate
I am sorry you have never had the experience of working hard on a farm as many of us have, perhaps if you had, your mind would be changed as well.
Either you are here legally or you are not. Either you are eligible to work here or you are not. It's really very simple.
If you want to establish a guest worker program for seasonal labor, it begins with full disclosure of who will be participating, where they will be and when they will be going home.
Posted Mon, Nov 15, 6:05 p.m. Inappropriate
Immigration issues aside, OneAmerica Votes is an illegal unregistered and non-reporting campaign committee. They campaigned for state legislature candidates and for or against various statewide ballot measures, but didn't report to the PDC.
They ran their campaign on illegally concealed contributions and illegally concealed spending.
Friendly advice to Anne-Marije Rook and other journalists: whenever you report on a campaign committee, always look up their disclosure filings. Always. If you can't find their disclosure filings ask the committee to either show them to you or explain why they weren't filed.
And no, Citizens United had no impact on Washington state campaign disclosure laws (which don't apply to federal candidates, but do apply to the in-state campaigns that OneAmerica Votes acted in).
More here
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/014440.html
Posted Tue, Nov 16, 2:02 p.m. Inappropriate
Well, Sharkansky... Given their primary business is to advocate for illegality, no one should be surprised that they play fast and loose with the laws governing themselves.
Posted Sun, Nov 21, 12:01 a.m. Inappropriate
“Murray consistently supported issues important to immigrants across the state,” Jayapal explained. “Rossi, on the other hand, didn’t.”
--Jaypal. You're right but not in the way you would expect. Rossi was simply putting American citizens first by preventing illegal immigration that has become a dramatic problem to our country. Murray's support of "immigration" typically leans towards legislation such as the "DREAM ACT," something I believe is totally bogus and completely unfair to U.S. taxpayers.
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