New USC Price study reveals BIPOC voting habits.

The U.S. is now more diverse than ever thanks to immigration and growing minority communities. However, voter turnout among these communities continues to lag behind rates seen in white, non-Latino communities. A new study from USC Center for Inclusive Democracy found that while Asian-Americans, Blacks, and Latinos make up nearly 30% of those eligible to vote, they represented only 22% of all votes cast.

MINDY ROMERO: People of color are more numerous. They are certainly impacting elections. They’re having a say at the ballot box, but it’s just not representative. Right. So, it could be larger given that, their share of the population. They are underrepresented because we have turnout rates that, are disparate, different by race and ethnicity. That means that each group’s share of those casting your ballot in an election is less than their share of the overall population or of the eligible voter population.

That was USC Center for Inclusive Democracy President and Founder Mindy Romero speaking today about her organization’s recently released study showing persisting low turnout rates among minority communities.

Members of underrepresented groups in Southern California, including high school senior Jonathen Ortiz, say there are many hurdles that stand in the way of solving this continuing issue.

JONATHNEN ORTIZ: I think one, it could just be the fact that maybe we’re not educated on it as much as like other people in different areas, and also maybe because we feel as minorities that democracy hasn’t done enough for us. And because of that, we’re not really motivated to do a change because we believe that democracy is too slow and otherwise maybe a closed mindset of just not voting. It is our mindset, and it’s the decision that a lot of people take because we feel like we don’t really have a voice.

However, despite these challenges, community leaders such as high school teacher Joel Snyder are attempting to change the status quo one lesson at a time.

JOEL SNYDER: it’s not a surprise that, that voting rates and registration rates have lagged, in populations of communities of color and that’s something we’ve worked really hard, at our school and in our program, to counteract by, pre-registering, all seniors registering eligible seniors and then, working to get out the vote in our community. We are a get out the vote campaign for the community because their voices aren’t heard in certain ways without voting. And obviously there are many ways to have your voice heard, but voting is one of the primary ones.

If fully mobilized, the USC Center for Inclusive Democracy expects the millions of eligible non-voters of color to have a transformative and immediate impact in the 2024 elections.

For Annenberg Radio, I’m Aidan Williams.