*All race/ethnicity data are alone or in combination (AIC) except “Asian (alone)”.
USER INSTRUCTIONS
Select a race or ethnicity on the right-hand side to change the focus of the map and table. To highlight a county within the map, click on the county image. To deselect and reset the map, simply click on the same county image. To highlight a county in the table, select the county to show the results for the race/ethnicity already selected. To reset the table, simply click on the name of the county again. To expand the table, click the square with the arrow on it that can be found in the upper right-hand corner of the table. The table is sorted by eligible voter population - to sort by a different column header, simply select the desired column header. Refresh the webpage if there is difficulty clearing selections.
SUMMARY
The Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) partnered with KAYA strategik, LLC - an equitable strategy, implementation, data and community engagement WMBE consulting firm - to conduct research analysis and develop a density map data visualization on Asian American eligible voter populations in Washington State. When possible, racial and ethnic groups alone or in combination (AIC) were provided to capture mixed race individuals and fully reflect the diversity of WA’s Asian American communities.
Asians AIC comprise 12% (888,309) of Washington's population and 9% (474,053) of the United States citizens 18 years and older or the citizen voting age population (CVAP) in Washington. The counties with the largest Asian AIC eligible voting populations are King County (254,657), Snohomish County (62,449), Pierce County (56,138), Clark County (20,594) and Thurston County (14,875). These counties also have the largest Asian populations (both Asian only and Asian AIC), therefore, opportunities for naturalized citizenship in addition to voter education and registration.
Filipinos (~114,000) are the largest Asian ethnic group of eligible voters in Washington, followed by Chinese, except Taiwanese (~98,000), Vietnamese (~63,000), Korean (~60,000), and Japanese (~57,000) communities. In King County, Chinese, except Taiwanese communities are the largest Asian ethnic group (~68,000) of eligible voters followed by Filipino (~50,000), Vietnamese (~36,000) and Asian Indian (~29,000) communities. Kitsap, Spokane, and Whatcom counties are also home to significant Asian eligible voter populations.
For individuals who prefer a language other than English, the Secretary of State provides voter registration forms in 23 unique languages including 11 Asian languages.
SOURCES, NOTES & METHODOLOGY
Two datasets were utilized to provide the most extensive information. The overall Asian alone citizen voting age population data for both Washington and each county is the Citizen Voting Age Population Special Tabulation from the American Community Survey (ACS) 2022 5-Year estimates (2018-2022) dataset. It is the most recent data on eligible voters with data provided for Washington state and for each county in Washington. However, it only provides data for race alone, e.g., Asian alone. This data could potentially undercount these communities, since individuals who identify as more than one race would not be captured in this dataset.
The more detailed ethnicity data was gathered from ACS 2021 5-Year estimates (2017-2021) Selected Population Detailed Table B05003 Sex by Age by Nativity and Citizenship Status (Dataset ACSDT5YSPT2021). Data is not provided for all counties or all ethnicities and not all counties have data for the same ethnicities. Therefore, state estimates may be larger than the summation of county estimates. The ethnicities made available by the dataset are non-exhaustive and not reflective of all ethnicities in the Asian community. The data utilized is for Asian ethnicities alone or in any combination (AIC). These categories are not mutually exclusive with some individuals potentially counted in multiple Asian ethnicities and could possibly overestimate ethnicity categories.
All numbers provided are estimates. The margin of error can be found in each dataset source (linked). CVAP estimates do not include US citizens who turned 18 years old (voting age) since the ACS datasets were released, so eligible voter numbers may be underestimated. In addition, the numbers for US citizens could potentially include incarcerated individuals who cannot vote in Washington or individuals disqualified by a court order. For more information on voter eligibility in Washington, please visit the WA Secretary of State.