SEATTLE - After this historic election, OneAmerica is proud to have been part of a movement to enfranchise hundreds of thousands of new immigrants to take part in the political process.

For too long, new U.S. citizens have been shut out of the electoral process due to lack of language skills, lack of education around the voting process and poor registration efforts. This year, OneAmerica (formerly Hate Free Zone) set out to ensure that thousands of new immigrant citizen voters got to the polls, cast ballots for the first time and helped decide the future of the country and the future of Washington State. More than 26,000 new citizen voters received multiple pieces of mail, while 11,000 new voters received multiple contacts including phone calls, door knocking and mail.  Early results show that over 7,000 new citizen voters targeted by OneAmerica turned out to vote, a remarkable 70% of all multiple-contact voters targeted by OneAmerica's efforts

By the close of Election Day, OneAmerica had:

• Registered 26,000 new citizens to vote in Washington
• Mailed 80,000 pieces of election material to prospective voters
• Made 21,000 calls to newly registered voters
• Knocked on 4,000 doors
• Sent 54 staff and volunteers on Election Day to drive voters to the polls, observe polling stations and get out the vote
• Distributed thousands of "Immigrant Votes Count" buttons to voters at polling places
• Put up 100 signs saying "Immigrant Votes Count" in immigrant communities to get out the vote
• As of Nov. 2, 70% of targeted new citizen voters (over 7,000 voters) who received multiple contacts had already voted
  

OneAmerica's efforts join the work of immigrant rights organizations nationwide to build a country based on opportunity and justice for all.

Comments from OneAmerica Executive Director Pramila Jayapal:

"The unprecedented voter turnout in immigrant communities across the country was a sign of the deep and abiding desire our communities have to fully participate in the political process. 

For many of our immigrant communities, the results of this election also mark an end to post-9/11 politics-politics of fear, divisiveness, us-versus-them. This is a new day for immigrants as we usher in a new President who is himself the son of an immigrant father from Kenya.  

In numbers, the impact New American voters is yet to be fully analyzed but what we know is this: New Americans - which includes both naturalized immigrants and U.S.-born children of immigrants who were born in 1965 or after - accounted for 8.6% of registered voters, a number that has been rapidly growing over the past few years. 

In Washington state, the immigrant vote has made an impact not only on the Presidential race but also on both the Governor's race and the 8th Congressional District race.

New citizen voters are watching carefully to see which candidates reflect their values on immigrant integration policy, healthcare, education and jobs.  We believe our voters responded to politicians who advanced policies that acknowledge immigrants as contributors and are punishing those who consistently cast anti-immigrant votes. 

Over the past 18 months, OneAmerica registered over 26,000 new immigrant citizens to vote.  Our efforts over the course of the past four months have included sending out over 80,000 pieces of mail, making over 21,000 phone calls to new voters and knocking on over 4,000 doors in the past four weeks.  

In spite of tremendous challenges in language - we had bilingual phone banks and volunteers - and challenges in understanding the political process, our early numbers show that approximately 70% turned out to vote.  That is over 7,500 new voters who are making their presence known in the Washington electorate and fundamentally changing the electoral map in this state.  

Notably, in 2004 our Governor won her last election by only 133 votes but is winning this year by approximately 150,000 votes.  

In Washington's 8th Congressional District, two years ago the Republican incumbent Dave Reichert (who consistently cast anti-immigrant votes in Congress) won by over 4,000 votes.  The 8th Congressional District has seen a tremendous influx of new American voters, particularly Asian and African over the past few years.  This year, that race is still too close to call.  

On the national, state and local levels, new Americans are proving that they matter and that they are going to cast their votes for policies that further immigration, health care, education and jobs.  It's high time that our elected officials see that.

2008 is a new day for immigrants-and immigrants are showing that they are for a new America."