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Making the Most of Michigan's Primaries

AAI
Posted on Thursday January 17, 2008

Despite generally low turnout in Tuesday’s Michigan primaries, particularly on the Democratic side, Arab American groups and individuals in the state were active in Get Out the Vote efforts and in organizing campaign events for candidates to address the community. The Yemeni American Political Action Committee (YAPAC) and a contingent of students at the University of Michigan—Dearborn, in particular, were active in mobilizing the community to vote on Tuesday.

Poor turnout throughout the state was attributed to penalties levied by the Democratic and Republican National Committees. After Michigan moved its primary elections up to January 15 in violation of rules in both parties, the DNC stripped Michigan of all of its delegates to the party’s national convention, while the RNC took away half of the state’s delegates. Democrats, with the exception of Dennis Kucinich, pledged not to campaign in the state, and candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards removed their names from the primary ballots. Nonetheless, Arab American voter turnout was impressive given the circumstances.

YAPAC distributed over 4,000 flyers to community members encouraging them to vote, drawing the support of the Yemeni Student Association in its efforts. The group hosted also Kucinich at the Muath bin Jabal Mosque and at Oakland International Academy in Detroit.

Abdol Nahshal, a YAPAC officer, was upbeat about the community’s efforts. “Turnout in the community wasn’t as high as usual, but when you look at the circumstances surrounding the primaries, it exceeded our expectations,” Nahshal said, noting high participation among both younger, first-time voters and older voters in the community. Many felt it was important to participate in order to send a message, even if the primaries didn’t generate widespread excitement, according to Nahshal.

AAI member Tarek Baydoun also helped lead GOTV efforts, working with students from the Arab Student Union (ASU) at the University of Michigan—Dearborn to generate interest in the elections. The Young Democrats of Dearborn and Dearborn Heights and the UM—Dearborn ASU hosted a Kucinich speaking engagement at the Islamic Center of America on Friday, January 11. Baydoun and others also led GOTV efforts amongst younger voters, in part through the hugely popular social networking website, Facebook.

Most observers expect that the state will ultimately be able to seat its allotted number of delegates at both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, despite the penalties handed down by the parties.


Check out what else Arab Americans have done on the campaign trail:

Click here to find about Arab American efforts in Iowa, and here to read what the community did in New Hampshire.

Interested in becoming involved in a campaign yourself?

Fill out our Presidential Campaign Connection form and we’ll connect you with the campaign of the candidate you’d like to support. There’s a long way to go in both the Democratic and Republican primaries—it’s not too late to get involved!