YALLA VOTE ‘08 Our Voice. Our Future.

Hop on over to Kabobfest for an interesting article about the Arab American Vote… “A recent Zogby International poll suggests that Senator Obama leads Senator McCain by a three-to-one margin among Arab Americans in both the two-way match-up and the four-way match-up.

Obama earns the greatest support ever recorded for a Presidential candidate among Arab American voters. In the two-way race, Obama leads 64/23, while in the four-way race (adding Barr and Nader), Obama leads 62/22. The poll projects that 68% of Arab American voters will vote for Obama on Election Day. These findings may be significant because 30% of Arab American voters live in five battleground states - Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. (McCain in effect conceded Michigan by re-directing staff and ending television advertising.)”

The two polls, conducted by Zogby International on behalf of the Arab American Institute in September and October, can be found by clicking here.

After a blogging hiatus for a 2 week Jury Duty stint, and some beginning of school/ LSAT prep madness, I have returned to update everyone on the happenings in the world of Yalla Vote New York. As you know, the congressional primaries are fast approaching, and the 13th District will choose its candidate tomorrow, September 9th.

As the Yalla Vote Field Organizer in New York, I have had the opportunity and the privilege to interact with the major players in the race for the 13th District. All of the candidates are out in full force looking for votes, and trying to pick up the pieces left over from the Vito Fosella scandal, which rocked the 13th District, and upset the balance of what has historically been a Republican-leaning voting population. Among the hopefuls are Steve Harrison (D), Michael McMahon (D), and Jamshad Wyne (R), all of whom I have had an opportunity to connect with. In particular I have had conversations with Mr. Wyne and Mr. Harrison about the importance of Arab American political involvement, and about the concerns of many Arab American voters.

Regardless of who emerges from the fray on September 9th, Arab American voters in the 13th District will have the opportunity to grill those candidates at the Yalla Vote Candidates Night. Yalla Vote will be hosting the Democratic and Republican nominees at Widdi Catering Hall on 56th St. and 6th Avenue at 6:30pm on October 23rd. Of course food will be served, and the dialogue between candidate and voter promises to be interesting. Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of the 13th District congressional primary. Until then…

-Matt

Thursday, July 30^th, I joined members of the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC) at a conference on civic engagement hosted by ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services). The event introduced the attendees—about 40 leaders of various Arab American organizations from around the country—to the REV campaign (Register Educate Vote). AAI’s own Helen Samhan, Executive Director of the AAI Foundation, spoke about the Yalla Vote campaign and how it fits-in with the Network’s get-out-the-vote plans. After hearing Helen’s explanation of Yalla Vote, some Network members in attendance were so enthusiastic they offered us office space in Ann Arbor, Michigan and a chance to create a new internship position in Texas. Way to go, Helen!

This past weekend, AAI Michigan staff and volunteers took part in the Dearborn Arab International Festival, an annual event attended by over 100,000 visitors. The Yalla Vote campaign was visible throughout the festival, as volunteers wearing Yalla Vote t-shirts were a constant presence, registering hundreds of people to sign AAI’s National Petition. Our AAI booth was well stocked with buttons and signs that were quite popular with festival attendees, and several local dignitaries stopped by to thank AAI for doing “good work”, including Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly and 19th Circuit Court Judge Mark Somers.

Overall, this past weekend was the highlight of my experience as a field organizer with the Yalla Vote campaign, as I got to connect with dozens of community members on an individual level, and discuss the importance of voting and the community’s involvement in the political system. What was particularly rewarding for me was to meet the many out of state visitors to the festival, including many Arab-Americans from Chicago, Ohio and Indiana, who made the trek out to Dearborn to take part in the largest gathering of Arab-Americans in the country. There was a great sense of camaraderie and community that I felt being at the festival, and seeing the diversity of the Arab American community, and the great desire for political change that was in the air.

AAI Intern Sandra Jaward adds her reflections on this past weekend in Dearborn:

This past weekend I had the opportunity to work at the Yalla Vote booth at the Arab Festival. I had the chance to interact with the hundreds of people that passed by inquiring about the AAI and the Yalla Vote campaign which was a nice experience. I recruited a few volunteers who were enthusiastic about helping the AAI so together we provided people passing the booth with informational packets about candidates, elections, and Arab Americans. We also encouraged anyone who passed by to register to vote, sign up as a volunteer, and sign our petition. I anticipate that if we attend more events like this in the future than we can gather more petition signatures as well as inform the wider public about the AAI and get them involved in politics.

When asking people to get involved in Yalla Vote the first question that is usually asked is what they would do. So here’s a list of only some of the many ways to get involved…

10. Get involved in the campaign of the candidate of your choice! Campaigns are always looking for more volunteers and you don’t necessarily have to get involved in a presidential campaign. There are plenty of local elections in your area that are also very important.

9. Become a member of your party’s local organizing community! If you affiliated with a particular party get involved in that party locally. This not only allows you to meet people that are politically like minded it also demonstrates how Arab Americans are politically active.

8. Work at a local polling place on Election Day! Not only do you usually get paid to work a polling place it is a great experience and is especially important in areas with a large Arab American community.

7. Make calls on Election Day to get out the Arab American vote!

6. If you are a student work with organizations on campus to get others involved!

5. Vote! Make sure that you are registered to vote a month before the election on November 4 and remember to vote either ahead of time or on Election Day (which of course depends on the election laws in your state and county).

4. Sign the National Petition! The Petition not only tells the presidential candidates what issues are important to us, but also tells them that we base our vote in November on those issues.

3. Register other Arab Americans to vote! While every vote counts the more votes that Arab Americans cast the more our voice can be heard.

2. Get others to sign the National Petition! The more signatures we collect the better and the louder our voice will be.

And most importantly…

1. Tell everyone you know about Yalla Vote and encourage them to get involved!

-Nadia

There’s an amazing sense of all being right in the world when a writer like Juan Cole pens a piece for Salon like his latest, “John McCain’s Arab-American Problem“.

If Arab Americans mature in the political process and begin to show some clout–through lobbying, campaign donations and PAC donations (yes, there is an Arab American Leadership PAC out there), as well as good, old-fashioned VOTING–we can change American foreign and domestic policy for the better.

As Mr. Cole puts it so succinctly:

But more important, Arab-Americans across the country are looking for changes in domestic and international policy that McCain seems unwilling to pledge — and they are concentrated in swing states that he will need to win this fall. Does John McCain have a problem with Arab-American voters?

Recent polls show a tight race between either Democrat and McCain in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio, all states where Arab-Americans account for an appreciable percentage of the vote. Such polls have limited utility with November so many months away, but that it will be a close election in those key states seems clear. In a tight election, the votes of a well-placed minority — Arab-American votes — can be crucial.

YALLA! VOTE!

ABC Primetime ran a piece on how Muslims are treated in America… absolutely worth watching. They set up a bigoted, nasty character behind the counter of a bakery in Anywhere, America, and filmed the customers’ reactions when the actor refused to serve a Muslim woman–also in on the setup.

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