*All race/ethnicity data are AIC (alone or in combination) except “NH/PI (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 of Native Hawiian and Pacific Islander (NH/PI) 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 NH/PI communities.
Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders alone or in any combination (AIC) comprise 1.3% (99,061) of Washington's population and 1% (56,283) of the United States citizens 18 years and older or the citizen voting age population (CVAP) in Washington. The counties with the largest NH/PI AIC eligible voting populations are King County (17,176), Pierce County (13,519), Snohomish County (6,220), Clark County (3,514) and Thurston County (3,064). These counties also have the largest NH/PI populations (both NH/PI only and NHPI AIC), therefore, opportunities for naturalized citizenship in addition to voter education and registration.
Native Hawaiians (~18,400) are the largest NH/PI ethnic group of eligible voters in Washington, followed by Samoans (~14,200), Guamanian or Chamorros (~13,800), Fijians (~1,400), and Tongans (~1,000). King and Pierce counties are home to the largest NH/PI AIC eligible voters. King County’s potential NH/PI eligible voters includes approximately 6,500 Samoans, 5,400 Native Hawaiians, 2,300 Guamanians or Chamorros, 500 Fijians and 300 Tongans. Pierce County’s potential NH/PI eligible voter population includes approximately 4,200 Samoans, 4,200 Guamanian or Chamorro, and 3,500 Native Hawaiian communities. Several other counties host over 1,000 NH/PI AIC ethnic or regional groups of eligible voters. For example, over 1,700 Guamanian or Chamorro eligible voters live in Snohomish County, with nearly 1,400 in Kitsap County and over 1,100 Guamanian or Chamorro living in Thurston County. Snohomish County hosts over 2,500 Native Hawaiians with almost 1,200 Native Hawaiian eligible voters living in Clark County, and over 1,100 in Thurston County.
ACS provides data on NH/PI communities identified within three larger regional groups – Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian. The largest regional groups of NH/PI eligible voters in Washington are Polynesians (~33,300) followed by Micronesians (~16,300). King County also hosts large NH/PI regional groups of potential voters with 12,000 Polynesians and 3,000 Micronesians. Large groups of NH/PI regional groups of potential voters live in Pierce County as well with 7,800 Polynesians and 4,600 Micronesians. Over 3,500 Polynesian eligible voters live in Snohomish with 1,700 in Clark County, 1,600 in Thurston, 1,200 in Kitsap, and 1,200 in Spokane counties. Snohomish County is home to roughly 1,800 Micronesian eligible voters, with nearly 1,600 living in Kitsap County and over 1,200 Micronesian potential voters living in Thurston County. For reference on NH/PI ethnic groups identified in each region, please visit ACS - Detailed Look at Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Groups.
SOURCES, NOTES AND METHODOLOGY
Two datasets were utilized to provide the most extensive information. The overall NH/PI 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., NH/PI 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 NH/PI community. The data utilized is for NH/PI ethnicities alone or in any combination (AIC). These categories are not mutually exclusive with some individuals potentially counted in multiple NH/PI 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.