Increased Sikh voter turnout allows us to exert our community’s collective influence over our elected leaders. Comprising about 700,000 of the nearly 330 million Americans, it may seem like the Sikh American community is too small to have significant power in the public sphere. However, this ignores a key characteristic about Sikh Americans: we are heavily localized around a few key geographical areas. Think about certain electoral districts within California, New York, and New Jersey, where Sikh Americans constitute a significant amount of the population. If there is a targeted increase of Sikh civic engagement within these districts, Sikh Americans have the potential to become a powerful voting bloc that is difficult to ignore by our elected leaders. Take for example San Jose, CA, where Sikh Americans were able to elect the very first Sikh member of California’s State Legislature, Ash Kalra. No one knows Sikh issues better than Sikhs themselves, and increasing turnout is one of the best ways that we can elect leaders that understand our community.
Increased Sikh voter turnout allows us to exert our community’s collective influence over our elected leaders. Comprising about 700,000 of the nearly 330 million Americans, it may seem like the Sikh American community is too small to have significant power in the public sphere. However, this ignores a key characteristic about Sikh Americans: we are heavily localized around a few key geographical areas. Think about certain electoral districts within California, New York, and New Jersey, where Sikh Americans constitute a significant amount of the population. If there is a targeted increase of Sikh civic engagement within these districts, Sikh Americans have the potential to become a powerful voting bloc that is difficult to ignore by our elected leaders. Take for example San Jose, CA, where Sikh Americans were able to elect the very first Sikh member of California’s State Legislature, Ash Kalra. No one knows Sikh issues better than Sikhs themselves, and increasing turnout is one of the best ways that we can elect leaders that understand our community.
