First time 3 Chinese candidates in Assembly election, but lack of turnout feared

Despite three Chinese candidates for State Assembly and continuous calls for participation, Chinese voters haven’t shown strong enthusiasm in voting, World Journal (世界日報) reports. Assembly District 49, which includes Alhambra, is the second district in the continental U.S. with a majority of Asian voters. For the first time, three Chinese candidates — Mathew Lin, Ed Chau, and Mitchell Ing — are competing against each other in the primary election. 

Chinese political observer Liang Zhangqiu believes that the voting rate will be 25 to 30 percent in the primary, according to the World Journal. He identifies four factors leading to the low voting rate among Chinese: First, some people do not know it is an open primary which does not require voters to be affiliated with a political party in order to vote for partisan candidates. Second, neither party has held large-scale campaigns so far this year. Third, some voters think the candidates are all Chinese, so whoever wins does not make a difference. And fourth, some voters are disappointed about the state government’s efficiency, and they think candidates usually do not fulfill their promises once they are elected.

The winner will run for the general election on November 6^th, 2012.