In the weeks leading up to the election, Jennifer Yu, 24, and her mother spoke to many Korean Americans who called NC Asian Americans Together’s voter hotline asking for help on how to cast their ballots.

Yu, who is also Korean American, said that several callers were interested in absentee ballots. But after she explained all the requirements — such as having a notary or two witnesses, printing a copy of a photo ID, putting three stamps on the envelope — they quickly deemed it too complicated.

“A lot of the folks that called had low English proficiency and a lot of them were older, so they were also technologically challenged,” said Yu, who works as a youth engagement coordinator at NC Asian Americans Together. “I encouraged the folks who were able to drive to go and do early voting because that way they can go in person and get it over with.”

Yu said her most memorable interaction involved an older Korean man who lived alone, without any family or very many friends nearby, and wanted help with casting his first vote as a naturalized citizen. She offered to accompany him to the polls on the first day of early voting and to help with English interpretation.

“It was really sweet. After I helped him vote, he bought me these peanuts from Food Lion to thank me for my time,” she recalled. “My experience helping with the hotline definitely made me realize, like wow, a lot of people don’t have a community or support system around them.”

Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) represent a rapidly growing racial demographic in North Carolina and across the country, as well as the fastest growing group of eligible voters. Between the 2020 and 2024 general elections, the number of registered AANHPI voters in NC grew by 31%, from roughly 104,000 to about 138,000. For comparison, North Carolina registered voters overall increased by about 7% in that same time.

According to NCAAT in Action, which is NC Asian Americans Together’s political advocacy arm, more than 72,000 Asian Americans in the state voted early, more than they had in previous elections. The State Board of Elections has yet to release data on total turnout for this group, but organizers say it’s very likely the AANHPI turnout exceeded 2020’s. In the 2020 general election, about 75,000 Asian Americans voted in the state. That was a 72% turnout rate, or slightly below the overall turnout rate of 75%. The overall turnout rate in 2024 was lower, with preliminary data showing an overall turnout rate of about 73%.

Troubles with absentee voting

While North Carolina’s AANHPI population has grown, many still grapple with barriers to voting. Naturalized citizens make up the largest share of Asian American voters nationwide, so advocacy groups like NCAAT in Action have pressed for translated materials and in-language support. Asian voters vote absentee more than any other group in North Carolina, said Chavi Khanna Koneru, co-founder and executive director of NCAAT and NCAAT in Action.

“I want to say we got almost 300 calls on our election protection hotline this year and the vast majority of them were about absentee ballots,” Koneru said. “They knew that they could drop off their ballots during early vote, but most polling sites didn’t have a separate line for ballot drop-off, so they still had to stand in one to two-hour lines just to drop off their ballot. There’s a number of these voters that were voting absentee in order to avoid crowds and being in sort of that uncomfortable environment.”

The process was confusing even for some Asian Americans who are fluent in English. First-generation immigrant Eve Golecruz, 24, chose to submit an absentee ballot because she planned to travel abroad at the end of October. This was her second time voting, having voted once before in the 2020 general election.

When she went to the closest polling site in Oak Ridge, she attempted to drop off her absentee ballot, but said the poll worker she walked up to ignored what she was saying and proceeded to register her for in-person voting. Golecruz tried to explain to another poll worker that she wanted to drop off her ballot, which resulted in an uncomfortable exchange about how she couldn’t do in-person and absentee at the same time, but then was told that her absentee ballot would go into a caged box to be shipped to Greensboro.

On the ride to the airport the next day, she checked the status of her ballot on BallotTrax. The tracking website said that it had been spoiled.

“I called Guilford Board of Elections and explained to them what happened,” Golecruz said in an email to WUNC. “After some investigating, the person on the phone explains to me that the polling place must have canceled both of my ballots instead of only the in-person one they had accidentally registered me for.”

The person she spoke with eventually helped make sure her vote got counted, but Golecruz now looks at voting differently.

“I will consider in-person voting as a better alternative as well as consider going to a polling site in a less rural area,” she said. “Oak Ridge is a rural white community and even though this may not have been relevant in my experience, I want to feel safe and that my appearance, age, race, etc. isn’t affecting my voting process.”

Koneru said that NCAAT in Action plans to advocate for the state to implement an easier process for filing absentee ballots and to host more in-person vote-by-mail clinics for future elections.

As the AAPI population grows, so do tensions between political groups

Since the polls opened for early voting on Oct. 17, longtime Democratic organizer Mona Singh worked every day at polling sites and knocked on doors in Wake County, trying to appeal to South Asian voters. Some Indian American voters who identify as Democrats were very enthusiastic about casting a ballot for Vice President Kamala Harris, she said, but sometimes, they expressed disinterest in voting because the political culture in India cast a shadow on their perception of politics.

“It’s like, ‘Oh, all politicians are bad and there is a lot of corruption and all that in India.’ And they’ll say things like, ‘Nothing will change whether I vote or not,’” said Singh, who chairs They See Blue, a South Asian group that supports Democratic candidates.

“We can understand why they are saying what they are saying,” Singh added. “Then we can say, Oh, OK. Do you have kids? Do you have a daughter? Do you know what it means, with the current reproductive rights laws, like what happens if (a pregnant person) miscarries at the 13th week? So then we can have these conversations in a very one-to-one, friend-to-friend kind of way.”

According to Indian American Impact and They See Blue, 58% of South Asian voters in North Carolina submitted absentee ballots or participated in early in-person voting.

On Nov. 3, the last day of early voting, a long line of voters at 9 a.m. moved slowly through the Cary Senior Center. Many of the voters who walked in and out were Asian American — the demographic makes up about 21% of Cary’s population.

Several canvassers and partisan poll watchers lingered around the entrance of the building, including Singh, who was working as a Democratic poll watcher that day. Two members of NC Asian Americans Together, including Chavi Khanna Koneru, were also there, handing out free bagels and bottles of water. And there were at least two Asian canvassers present to advocate for Republican candidates, including Ravinder “Ravi” Gaddampally, who wore an “Asian Americans for Trump 2024” T-shirt.

Gaddampally, a precinct chair with the NC GOP and a 2024 RNC Delegate, said that he’s a part of AsiansMAGA, which formed recently among Asian American Republican supporters in various swing states.

“Most Asians coming to America, they are conservative families,” he said. “Their principles match with the Republican Party.”

He shared that the group wants inflation controlled, to secure the southern border to “stop illegal immigrants from coming into the country” — but made the distinction that refugees should still be allowed to come to the U.S. — and to stop schools from indoctrinating students and supporting children who change their gender. The latter talking points have been promoted by the recent Republican state superintendent candidate Michele Morrow.

He also voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, which would change the language in the state constitution to say “only a citizen of the United States who is 18 years of age” can vote and remove language about naturalized citizens. Even though Gaddampally himself is a naturalized citizen, he said he is not bothered by this change.

“There is no additional word needed – ‘naturalized’ – when it is already ‘every citizen,’” Gaddampally said. “Democrats are falsely claiming that if you vote pro, we will lose voter rights.”

Democrats, NCAAT in Action and other groups representing immigrants have advocated voting against the amendment, arguing that if it is approved, it would open the door for anti-immigration bills. The amendment ultimately ended up passing by a vast margin.

While Republican Asian Americans have always been around, Singh said this is the first time she’s seen a group like AsiansMAGA at the polls. She also recalled one day when she witnessed several Donald Trump-supporting Asian Americans who were being aggressive and arguing with people at a polling site.

“We actually had to call our friends, put an SOS out and say, ‘Hey folks, get to the polling site because we need backup,’” Singh said. “So we’ve actually increased the numbers from the Dems from two poll greeters to four. We’ve added poll watchers and our job is just walking around, making sure no voters are being intimidated.”

AAPI voters still struggle to be seen — but political outreach is improving

NC Asian Americans Together was founded in 2016, in part motivated by APIA Vote’s 2012 finding that about 80% of registered Asian American voters across the U.S. South had not been contacted by any political party during that year’s election season. Much has changed since then, but some things remain the same, said Koneru.

“There’s still not stuff in language. There’s still not Asian faces on pieces of mail. Our names are still being pronounced incorrectly,” Koneru said. “But now there is an organization that didn’t exist back in 2016. It’s a fact that people see us at the polls and they say, Oh great. There’s someone else from my community out here. I know I can ask them a question. It makes them more comfortable.”

Patel-Nguyen said he received a mailer from the Democratic Party recently that was printed in multiple Asian languages.

“I do the mailers at NCAAT and NCAAT in Action that we translated into eight different languages this year,” he said. “And to see someone else’s mailer hit the mailbox with Vietnamese, Hindi, and Chinese on there — it was awesome because that shows they are recognizing the same need that we have been working to address for so many years now.”

“Every new Asian American voter that casts their ballot, learns about policy or keeps up with their representatives is a huge win for us, in every election,” Patel-Nguyen said.