SEATTLE VOTES 2016 SURVEY RESULTS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY About Seattle Votes

In 2015, the Seattle Immigrant Voting Rights Task Force released a report with recommendations for city and regional governments. One of the recommendations was to collect better quality data about immigrant and refugee voters. In response, the City of Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs undertook a community-based approach to research.

The result was the Seattle Votes Survey. This paper and electronic formatted survey was a research tool to help the City understand barriers to civic engagement (e.g., naturalization, voter registration, and voting) for immigrant and refugee residents. It was originally offered in 10 languages: Amharic, Arabic, Traditional Chinese, English, Korean, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tigrinya, and Vietnamese. Later, paper surveys in Filipino/ Tagalog, Indonesian, and Khmer/Cambodian were available thanks to community support. In 2016, the City worked with more than 100 partner organizations to gather responses from 5,566 immigrant and refugee res- idents on civic engagement, the first such dataset for any city in the U.S. and one of the largest in the country.

We have consolidated the results from respondents who identified themselves as being born in the coun- tries of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia, (which for the purposes of this report, we refer to as “East Africa”). This report presents several highlights from the data, as well as recommendations to help increase civic engagement in this community.

You can see the original English-version of the Seattle Votes Survey at: www.bit.ly/SV_English.

You can see the translated versions of the Seattle Votes Survey at: www.seattle.gov/SeattleVotes. 3 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - 2016 RESULTS While the Eritrean population in Washington is the military. Ethiopian the and fighters be Eritrean tween conflict armed of decades three to led event annexed Eritrea anddissolved itsparliament. This Selassie Haile Emperor Ethiopian 1962, In region. was federated with Ethiopia as an autonomous similar. Following the defeat of Italy in WWII, Eritrea opia, andtheimmigration story ofbothgroups is here more recently as refugees. arrived have who immigrants” “new as and Seattle students to earlier came who immigrants” “old Ethiopians tendto distinguishbetweenthemselves: Additionally, population. Muslim substantial a with ans are but largely Christians (mostly orthodox), Ethiopi whole, a As languages. and religions, ties, armed conflictshave occurred. recognition ofindependence,thoughoccasional international received Eritrea formally when 1993, Eritreans in ended with Conflict 1991. in formed After homeland. the defeat of the Derg regime, a new government their left Ethiopians million 2.5 about 2009, to 1974 between fact, In country. the the 1980s increased the number of refugees fleeing Derg, and a severe drought that affected Ethiopia in combined with the harsh regime imposed by the with Eritrean fighters, which had begun in the 1960s, ernment allied with the Soviet Union. Armed conflict as theDerg, whichestablishedacommunistgov juntaknown bySelassie wasoverthrown amilitary Haile Emperor 1974, In 1970s. early and 1960s late the in students as Seattle to came Ethiopians first The Seattle. in population African East the of age clans, languages, and religious beliefs. origin group includesavariety ofethnicitiesand national Each 1990s. and 1980s the in explosively growing but 1970s, and 1960s the in arriving first relatively new immigrant community in Seattle, from Ethiopia,Eritrea, andSomalia. They are a nity consistsmainlyofimmigrants andrefugees many common experiences. This diverse commu several countries with different histories, share East Africans inSeattle The recent history of Eritrea is tied to that of Ethi Ethiopians inSeattlerepresent different ethnici Ethiopians currently make up the largest percent from originating though Seattle, in Africans East ------Office ofImmigrant and Refugee Affairs in 2016. Seattle’s East African Communities” released by the community, pleaseseethepublication“Voices of clan distinctionsso common in thatregion. Somali community, who have alsoput aside the Seattle’sby welcomed been have they Fortunately, of thecircumstances under whichthey came. extreme because discriminationin thatcountry suffered group this Africa, Southeast from Somalia to brought slaves Originally Bantu. Somali by 2004 ber of refugees. These refugees were joined in num the in explosion an to led 1991 in war civil of outbreak The 1980s. the in students as here came most early Somali immigrants in Seattle originally religious laws. local governments andinformalcustomary and surgents, residents continueto rely ontribal-based the territory ofSomaliahasbeenrecaptured from in central government until 2012. However, as most of among warlords kept inchaos,withno thecountry skirmishes armed this, Following 1991. January in out in the 1980s, which culminated in Barre’s ouster broke war Civil Union. Soviet the with allied torship dicta a established who Barre, Siad General Major of installation the to led coup bloodless a 1969, In united andgranted independence,formingSomalia. British (under protection since the end of World War II), were Somaliland Italian former the and Somaliland British 1960, 1, July On strife. armed by to Seattle between 1989 and 1993. in Sudanto emigrate. MostEritrean refugees came gration policies, allowing Eritrean refugees in camps arrived in the 1980s after Congress reformed immi More 1970s. late the in Seattle in arrive to began Eritrea from refugees first The students. as 1970s and 1960s the in U.S. the to came originally Eritrea States. United the in population Eritrean the of 10% almost largestthe of representingU.S., the in communities one is it communities, African East the of smallest To learn more about Seattle’s East African African East Seattle’s about more learn To arrivals, Eritrean and Ethiopian early the with As Somali migration was also heavily determined from those Seattle, in Ethiopians first the with As - - - - 4 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - 2016 RESULTS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY Source: US Census, 2012-2016 American Community Survey, Table forForeign B05006: Born Population Place ofBirth in the United States. % East African INTHESEATTLEEAST AFRICANS BY REGION CENSUSTRACTS (%OFTOTAL POPULATION) Source: US Census, 2012-2016 American Community Survey, Table forForeign B05006: Born Population Place ofBirth in the UnitedStates. OFBIRTHPLACE FORFOREIGNBORNPOPULATIONS: 2012-2016 At-a-Glance ETHIOPIA SOMALIA ERITREA 0.001% - 5% Over 15% 10 – 15% 5 –10% 0% 5,949 2,685 1,037 SEATTLE FEDERAL WAY SEATTLE SHORELINE TUKWILA KENT AUBURN 12,431 7,110 2,023 KING COUNTY BELLEVUE RENTON KIRKLAND 16,450 7,623 2,732 WASHINGTON 5 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - 2016 RESULTS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY Executive Director, HornofAfricaServices Interview withTsegaye Gebru voices are heard. church. The more we are involved, the more our to help with safety. With their landlord. With their help their kids get a good education. With the police involved at every level. With the school district to heard. I encourage peopleinmycommunityto get to represent themandmake sure theirvoices are nity for people who are naturalized to elect people understand theirobligations.Voting isanopportu right to express their opinions, but they also need to havethe Peopleeverything. is toParticipating you? inour democracy mean What doesparticipating and have been executive director since2009. Services Africa That’sof Horn port. with work I why many inmycommunitydidnot. They neededsup- Ihadaneducation,but It really touched myheart. are doctors backathomenowworkastaxidrivers. of their language and accents. Lots of people who how people were discriminated against because I foundtimeto give backto mycommunity. Isaw reer was focused on information technology, but to stay here with my wife and had a family. My ca decided I College, Bellevue at studies my finishing How didyou get involved inyour community? cause everything was different. Language, culture, food,weather. Itwashard be really cold. There was so much adjustment for me. light clothes.ItwasNovember andsunny, butIwas in Greece before comingto theStates,Ionlyhad time some spent had I Because Seattle. in arrived I but I grew up in the capital. I remember the first day from Ethiopia. My family is from western Ethiopia, What isyour migration story? I came as a student I came as a student After - - - 6 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - 2016 RESULTS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY are under40 years old are registered to vote Southeast Seattle(33%) Most are residents in these three ZIP codes: language primary speak Somalias their additional traits of the respondents: not arandom sample, and skews slightly more male(54%) and heavily Somali-born (60%). The followingare Almost 1,800 individuals in the East African community completed the Seattle Votes Survey. The survey was About the Respondents VotesSeattle Survey for transportation drive theirown car migrated to the U.S.in 2000s Southeast Seattle(16%) rent their homes school diplomaorGED have no more than a high $64,999 annually between $24,301 and of households earn well”or “well” “very speak Englisheither SeaTac/Tukwila (8%) 7 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - FINDINGS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY munity forincreased attentiononcivic engagement. instateandlocal elections. Therefore,participation com East Africans are an important difference or no difference in improving theirneighborhood. This is correlated with low A majority(55%) of those surveyed (1,756) thought that they couldonly make asmall 2. East Africanrespondents don’t feel empowered. combination of factors is arecipe for housinginsecurity. market, itis not surprising that affordable housing topped the list of policy priorities. This Given the mixofmodest incomes, lowrates ofhomeownership, and a tight rental housing 1. Affordable housing, education, jobs,andhelping youth are the top policyconcerns. Findings hood a better place to live? neighbor your making in have can you think you do difference a of much Overall,how (Q8) you think ourpublic officials shouldaddress? issue facing your immigrant(Q7) What is the most important and refugee communitythat Big Difference 26% Access to Health Care/Affordable Health Care Help the Youth/Youth Services Jobs/Job Search/More JobsAvailable Education/General Educational Resources Affordable Housing/Low Income Housing Difference Moderate 19% Difference Small 23% 32% Difference No

- - 8 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - FINDINGS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY this may a high level seem high, the respondents alsoreported of Englishproficiency. or information about elections, with 54% easy” findingiteither “very “somewhat easy”. Though Respondents were almostevenly divided ontheirability to attain linguistically accessible 4. Respondents are splitonaccess to informationaboutelections inpreferred language. ming thatreaches across abroad setof languages and ethnic groups. three times more than “Ethnic television”. This may alsobe indicative of a lack ofprogram television, it is notsurprisingthat“Television in English” wasselectedby a majority, over Given the oral tradition of communication forEastAfricans and ubiquity of the modern main sources ofinformationaboutpolitics. 3. English-language television, the internet, andcommunity organizations are the the following would you mostlikely use? (Q10) If you wanted to findinformationabout elections, issues, and candidates,which of language? preferred your in candidates and elections about information find to it is easy How (Q11) My place ofworship Friends andfamily Ethnic television provider(s)service My community organization(s)/ Internet Television inEnglish Library Radio inEnglish Ethnic newspapers Newspapers inEnglish Very Easy 34% Easy Somewhat 20% (7%) (9%) (10%) (12%) (12%) (14%) Difficult 34% (17%) (26%) (44%) any found not I have 12% (55%) - 9 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - FINDINGS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY or thought voting was not worth the effort. or thought voting was not worth do so. This contrasts sharply with a small percentage (17%) that were either not interested More thanhalf(52%) of those eligible, but not registered stated they didnotknowhowto 6. Lack ofinformationisasignificantbarrier to voter registration. comes to policy advocacy, only 7% had ever contacted an elected official. had attended ameeting and/or worked on a neighborhood project. However, when it up with prioritizationofeducationMoreand youth services. than a fifth stated thatthey was the most common civic engagement activity for the respondents. This trend matches By a wide margin, attending PTA volunteering meetings at or otherwise a child’s school 5. Engaging inachild’s focusforcivicengagement. educationisaprimary Choose all that apply. (Q12) Please tell usifyou have done any of the followingactivitiesin past 2 years. is the main reason you have not registered to vote? what registeredvote,to yet not but 18), of age the overcitizen (U.S. eligible areyou if (Q14) I attendedagovernment orschoolboard meetinginmycity I have given money to anorganization orcandidate I have signedaletteraboutsocialorpoliticalissue I attendedaPTA meetingorothervolunteer group atmychild’s school political issue political issue I sentamessageonFacebook orothersocialmediaabouta people to vote I volunteered foranelectionactivitysuchasaphonebankorregistering inone ormore demonstrations,I participated protests, marches, orrallies I have worked onaproject orattendedameetinginmyneighborhood or in-person I contactedapublicofficialthrough aletter, email,phone, I am worried that voting is not safe Voting is awasteoftime/it doesn’t make a difference I am not interested in voting I am too busy Voter registration information is not available in my preferred language I don’t knowhow/where to register/it’s too complicated Registered/soon to register Applying now

12% 14% 52% 39% 10% 11% 13% 15% 21% 23% 8% 9% 1% 1% 3% 7% 8% 10 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - FINDINGS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY respond to this question. inelections.However,to participate the vast majority of respondents (96%) did not Only one-third of those who answered thisquestion said that they have been encouraged 8. Few are contacted by politicalgroups orcandidates to vote. races in odd years. years, responses to this questions would likely be different if it were limited to municipal while a plurality said “never.” Given the overlap between federal andstateelectionsineven Almost 60% stated that they vote in state and local elections either “often” or “sometimes”, atleast sometimes innon-federal7. MostEast Africansparticipate elections. or other organization? party,political candidate, a encouragedbyvote toand contacted everbeen Haveyou (Q19) (Q18) How often have you voted in state andlocalelections? D. Never C. Rarely B. Sometimes A. Often I DON’T REMEMBER I DON’T NO. YES! 12% 31% 10% 28% 30% 11 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - RECOMMENDATIONS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY barriers and a distrust of government. For its part, the City of Seattle should co-host ballot barriers and a distrustofgovernment. the City of Seattle should co-host ballot For its part, is needed to overcome should be lauded, moreties. support linguistic Though thiseffort munity-based organizations to in underrepresented promote voter communi participation to providedation and King County Elections partnered about $700,000 in grants to com renew their driver’s licensesor apply forpublic assistance. More recently, the Seattle Foun agencies are required to offer voter registration when individuals apply foror opportunities decades. With the passage of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, government The role of government in promoting voter registration hasincreased over the past three to promote3. Expand partnerships civicengagement. tions. asover 30% voterof respondents participation, stated they “never” vote instate/localelec couldincrease effort as well languages from emerging communities.Such a concerted engaging videos thatare translatedshort, into each of the major East African languages, City services. The formatshould be available in physical anddigital formats, ideallyin charter, who are current Cityofficials andhow they are elected,andwho to call regarding local government within oursystemoffederalism. This could include the basics of the City edge. The City should invest in basic adult civics education that focuses onthe role of works. However, there are few resources in Seattle that provide such foundational knowl Increased civic engagement is predicated on a solid understanding ofhowgovernment aboutrole2. Promote oflocalgovernment. civiceducation,particularly state, andfederal legislative districts in 2021. last Census), and less political representation as district boundaries will be drawn for city, fewer federal resources (an estimated $12,000 per person per decade in Washington for the rates by immigrants Lowerparticipation andrefugeesparticipation. inSeattlemeanboth such amove, ontop oftheongoinganti-immigrant rhetoric, may create achillingeffect on that believe Experts status. citizenship on question a add to Bureau Census the requested Department Justice the Recently, mid-2017. in resigned abruptly director long-term the as disarray,in be to seems Census the administration, new the race/ethnicity.Under on tions online data collection processes, a drastic cut in door-to-door enumerators, and new ques on emphasis heavy a included This Congress. by approved cuts budget significant to due largely changes, major for planning was Bureau Census U.S. the elections, 2016 the before The CityofSeattleshouldplay anaggressive role inpromoting afullcensuscount.Even 1. Launch aSeattle-based fullcensus count campaign. Recommendations ------12 SEATTLE VOTES SURVEY - RECOMMENDATIONS EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY ise in increasing voter participation andare of a deeper dive.ise inincreasing therefore voter participation worthy districts? These are reforms that other municipalities have implemented, whichshowprom with nomunicipalprimaries? Ifthere were multi-member districtsinsteadof single-member municipal elections were moved to even-numbered years? If there were ranked-choice voting agenda. For instance,how would turnoutchange in immigrant andrefugee communities if In addition,theCityofSeattleshould also add other prospective reforms to such a re both quantitative and qualitative analyses. immigrant and refugee communities,the City should commission research that includes to contribute to municipal campaigns. To understand the impact of electoral reforms on ers, a public financed campaign system that provides each registered voter with $100 with all at-large seats. Further, the Cityis now the first jurisdiction withDemocracy Vouch fore theimplementation of the hybridat-large/district system, Seattle was the largest city Elections inthe City of Seattle have recently undergone a significant transformation. Be 5. Research impactofelectoral reforms that promote more engagement. and refugees in Seattle and King County. language television as well as provide an annualbriefingfor journalists aboutimmigrants train East African community leaders in how to generate earned mediatargeting English with training, technical assistance, andgrants. strategy, Asasecondary the City could also reach this community. Instead, the City should encourage outlets in audio and video format munication. This likely means that print media should not be consideredway to aprimary information about public affairs, as East Africans rely heavily on an oral tradition forcom The survey did also reveal thatEnglish language television is the most popular source of outlets to share resources andtools so they can continue to inform their communities. African Media Association (WAMA) in December 2017. The initiative allows for different with several Africanand Middle Eastern communitymembersto launch the Washington ularly in theEastAfricancommunity. of Neighborhoods worked The SeattleDepartment The CityofSeattleshould continue to invest inthe development of ethnicmedia, partic the development ofmore4. Support East Africanethnic mediaoutlets. accomplishments and highlightfuture needs. to City couldorganize communicate past an annual civic engagement summit, in part of a long-term relationship buildingprocess, and not just a one-time contact.Finally, the and even help withreferrals to other City and school district services. This should be part the City, out voter wouldregistrationcarry drives, inform voters about upcomingelections, African immigrants andrefugees. These volunteers, who would be officially recognizedby proaches, such ascreating adeputyregistrar system to ofEast identify and train acohort Though the use ofdirect mail seems promising, the Citycould pilot other innovative ap to vote whonaturalized from city-funded programs. with support with immigrant andrefugee organizationsparties serving andproactively register people search search ------