The First Voter’s Registration Campaign in 2010

   This year, the midterm elections are carried out in the United States. It is called a ‘midterm’ election since all members of the House of Representatives are newly elected after 2 years of presidency, evaluating the 2 years of the president’s performance in office.

   The seats of the governor of New York and the senator for New York (currently Gillibrand Kristen) are to be elected. Also, all members of the House of Representatives and the Senate of New York are newly elected.

   Although New Jersey doesn’t hold as many elections as New York, national attention is already being concentrated on New Jersey, where a hotly contested election is being expected for the seat of the House of Representatives.

   As the Korean voter turnout generally decreases after the presidential elections and during the midterm elections, the efforts to heighten the participation of Korean voters are in urgent need. Furthermore, in New York, the voting machine is to be changed starting this year from the primary elections, which was prepared in advance with several testing and hearing by the New York State Board of Elections.

   The Korean American Voters’ Council (KAVC) has attended every hearing and presented the pros and cons concerning the each voting machine. However as the majority of the poll workers are old aged, the concern for the usage education regarding the new machine is being raised as well as the concern for the confusion the voters may face in the polling stations since they are unfamiliar to the operation of the new machine.