KAC-LA and AAAJ-LA Statement Calling for Continued Vigilance in Distribution of Sample Ballots5/9/2017
FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION CONTACT Joon Y. Bang (213) 365-5999 joon@kacla.org Randy Bunnao (213) 241-0227 rbunnao@advancingjustice-la.org KOREAN AMERICAN COALITION-LA AND ADVANCING JUSTICE-LA CALL FOR CONTINUED VIGILANCE IN DISTRIBUTION OF SAMPLE BALLOTS LOS ANGELES - On June 6, 2017, Angelenos in the 34th Congressional District will determine who will fill the seat left vacant by Xavier Becerra, now California's attorney general. This election comes after the primary election on April 4 was marred by an error that left an undetermined number of Korean-speaking voters with inaccurate sample ballots. The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters (ROV) is currently in the process of determining whether the procedural mistake was caused by one worker failing to follow set procedures or whether additional procedural errors occurred. Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA) and Korean American Coalition - Los Angeles (KAC) support these efforts to prevent a similar error from happening in the future. "In June, voters will decide who will represent a large portion of Los Angeles in Congress," said Joon Bang, Executive Director of Korean American Coalition - Los Angeles. "It is imperative that the extent of the error be determined and that safeguards be adopted before the next election." The 34th Congressional District includes Koreatown, Boyle Heights, Chinatown, and downtown L.A. As a county with one of the most diverse electorates in the country, voters in Los Angeles are provided sample ballots in English and 9 other languages. The error that occurred in the primary election could have affected any language. In the future, the City of Los Angeles will consolidate its elections with the County, adding more than 1.5 million voters to the ROV's responsibility. "We are encouraged that the ROV is conducting a thorough analysis of the sample ballot error," says Deanna Kitamura, Voting Rights Project Director at Advancing Justice-LA. "We continue to engage with the ROV to discuss safeguards and will suggest additional ones where warranted once the report is released." # # #
Educate | Embrace | Empower Korean American Coalition-Los Angeles (KAC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1983 to promote the civic and civil rights interests of the Korean American community. KAC endeavors to achieve these goals through education, community organization, leadership development, and coalition-building with diverse communities. Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles (Advancing Justice-LA) is the nation’s largest legal and civil rights organization for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (NHPI). Through direct services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, leadership development, and capacity building, Advancing Justice-LA focuses on the most vulnerable members of Asian American and NHPI communities while also building a strong voice for civil rights and social justice. Statement from the Korean American Coalition-Los Angeles on House of Representatives Passing AHCA LOS ANGELES (May 5, 2017) - On May 4, 2017, The US House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act (AHCA) by 217 to 213 votes. The Korean American Coalition-Los Angeles (KAC) opposes this legislation, because in its current form, the bill represents a denial of the real and pressing needs of the most vulnerable in our society. “This is a very disappointing outcome. It’s a reversal of the progress our country has made towards the universal right to affordable healthcare for all people,” said Joon Bang, Executive Director of KAC. Should the bill pass as is through the Senate, fewer children and low-income, disabled, aging, and sick people will be able to afford and maintain health coverage. The bill will end Medicaid expansion, which currently provides insurance to an estimated 10 million low-income Americans, and will also compromise safeguards for people with pre-existing conditions. The Korean American community will be one of the hardest hit in Los Angeles County with 1 in 3 Korean Americans lacking health insurance, which makes the Korean-American community the highest uninsured among all ethnic groups in Los Angeles. According to AARP’s 2016 community report, Korean Americans 50 to 64 years of age are far more likely than any other racial group to lack health insurance in LA County. However, cause for concern over AHCA transcends race and political partisanship. In March, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 24 million people across the nation will be negatively impacted by AHCA. With the bill now moving to the Senate, we urge those who share our concerns to contact your Senators and urge them to reject this legislation. You can locate the contact information for your Senator at https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/senators_cfm.cfm and use the template email available at www.kacla.org to share your opposition to this bill. # # #
Educate | Embrace | Empower Korean American Coalition-Los Angeles (KAC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 1983 to promote the civic and civil rights interests of the Korean American community. KAC endeavors to achieve these goals through education, community organization, leadership development, and coalition-building with diverse communities. |
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