Why do minorities participate less? The effects of immigration, education, and electoral process on Asian American voter registration and turnout

Abstract

Despite their interest in racial differences in voting behavior, especially those between Blacks and Whites, social scientists typically have not focused explicitly on the relatively low participation rates of Asian Americans. Using the Current Population Survey Voting and Registration Supplements (1994–2000), I evaluate the utility of four explanations (socioeconomic, acculturation, differential return, and institutional barriers) for the low voter participation rates of Asian Americans and other racial minorities. I introduce a statistical model that permits a simultaneous estimation of voter registration and turnout. My results are 4-fold. First, socioeconomic explanations are less effective in understanding White-Asian differences than other White-minority comparisons. Second, immigration status and length of residency in the United States, as primary indicators of acculturation, represent the major hurdles to both Asian Americans and Hispanics for registering, but much less so for their vote-casting. Third, the positive effect of education on voter participation is relatively limited for Asian Americans, especially compared with that of Whites. Fourth, institutional barriers, most notably registration requirements, have disproportionately screened Asian Americans, and to a lesser degree Hispanics, from the final stage of vote-casting. My counterfactual analyses suggest that the differences in voter turnout between Asian Americans and Whites would virtually disappear in the absence of voter registration.