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Voting Rights

NNAAC leads this collaborative to ensure Arab-Americans, and other Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities, are protected from discriminatory voting practices or procedures.

The government has largely failed to protect the voting rights of Arab Americans and the larger MENA community. Data on Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities, including Arab Americans, is included under the “White” category and not counted on its own. This is according to the standards set by Statistical Policy Directive 15 (Directive 15). Federal data is necessary to enforce civil rights protections, like the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965, which gives people the right to be free from voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.  In addition, MENA languages, such as Arabic, are not considered a “language minority group,” meaning our communities are excluded from many election protections, including access to in-language materials.

Without equitable data and an amendment to the VRA, our communities will continue to be disenfranchised through partial redistricting practices, surveillance at the polls, limited legal support, and little to no access to in-language voter materials.

Last year, NNAAC members in 12 different states engaged with over 1,050,000 Arab Americans to familiarize them with the voter registration process. Right now, NNAAC is working to introduce federal voting rights legislation such as the Arab American Voting Rights Act, which will enhance language access at the polls, protections from voter dilution, and federal monitoring of discrimination 

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For information, contact Amal Mohamud at [email protected] or Sara Ismail at [email protected].

Our Policy Recommendation

Federal  

  • Urge members of Congress to sponsor the Arab American Voting Rights Act amending section 203 of the Voting Rights Act to include “Arab Americans” in the definition of language minorities and improve the trigger mechanism for coverage.  
  • Urge members of Congress to direct the Department of Justice to provide Arabic voter materials and report on MENA voter suppression through the appropriations process.  

Local/ State  

  • Urge your state legislature to introduce Campaign Legal Center’s model state legislation (P. 24 – 41) including Arab Americans in voter protections.  
  • Urge your local or state legislature to pass a resolution urging the federal government to pass the Arab American Voting Rights Act and/or pass a resolution urging your state government to introduce state voting rights legislation including Arab Americans.