US election: South Asian community emerges key factor in swing states

New York, Nov 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) A South Asian group has organised an event to persuade voters on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris while capitalising on Indian Americans' high-level support for the Vice President.

South Asians for Harris (SAH), in its election-eve high-power campaign for Harris, organised a “mega” canvass in Pennsylvania on Saturday, bringing in volunteers from New York, New Jersey and Washington.

During the campaign, SAH organised phone banks and text banks – volunteers calling or texting voters – to canvass for Harris in seven states, the group said.

Before Saturday, when it launched its big push, it said that its volunteers had made 30,000 calls to voters in key states and sent 250,000 texts.

In addition, it said that its volunteers had gone door-to-door in the swing states, which can determine the winner and reached 10,000 households.

A poll of Indian Americans conducted by Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAV) showed that 69 per cent of Indian Americans support Harris, while another by Indian American Impact (IAI) of South Asians in the seven swing states that have inordinate power of determining the winner showed 68 per cent support for.

SAH brought Indian American star power for its campaign, “Why Kamala”, producing 12 short videos featuring Reshma Shetty, who acted in “Royal Pains” and the Broadway show “Bombay Dreams”; Tiya Sircar, actor in “Star Wars Rebels” and “The Good Place”, and Vasant and Champa Patel from “Meet the Patels”.

SAH also held a “Diwali Rally” to canvass voters for Ashwin Ramaswami, who is running for the Georgia state senate.

SAH describes itself as an all-volunteer organisation that mobilises the South Asian community for the Vice President.

It produces a series of voter information decks for many of the US states with information about voter registration and voting.

Source: IANS