The UCLA Korean American Student Association will hold a Voter Registration Day Friday on Bruin Walk to promote civic engagement among Asian-American students.
KASA will set up a booth on Bruin Walk from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to help students register to vote in the presidential election, said Steve Shin, president of the Korean American Student Association.
“At a college age, it is crucial for us to be an active part of American politics,” said Shin, a third-year psychobiology student. “If we want change to happen … we can actually make a difference by voicing our opinions and making changes ourselves.”
Asian-Americans have the lowest turnout rates for presidential elections in the United States, according to a Pew research study. Shin said all students are welcome to register at the booth, but KASA hopes to boost the number of Asian-Americans who vote in the 2016 election.
“As college students, we’re in a great position to fix the imbalance,” Shin said. “We’re trying to make a difference and combat this issue.”
Last January, Shin and Newri Kim, KASA’s vice president, attended a national Korean-American student conference that encouraged Korean-American college students to promote Korean-American civic engagement by hosting registration drives on their campuses.
Kim, a third-year political science student, said she and Shin decided to collaborate with Korean American Civic Empowerment, a national nonprofit organization that helped organize the conference, to host a registration drive this year.
Kim added she plans to register to vote at the event tomorrow.
“A lot of people think … one vote won’t really make a difference,” Kim said. “But I think if all those people took the action to vote, we could make a huge difference.”