Politics & Government

Fairfax County Announces New Language Assistance Measures for Korean American Voters

Fairfax County, with the help of Herndon Town Councilmember Grace Han Wolf, takes a big step toward drawing in Korean American voters.

As we've all probably figured out by now, the upcoming gubernatorial election is going to be an important one for the future of Virginia.

For that reason, organizations across Fairfax County are making a big push for minority voters to get registered to vote and make the trip to the polls on Nov. 5.

Herndon Town Councilmember Grace Han Wolf has been very active for that cause. 

Find out what's happening in Herndonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This past Thursday, Wolf, along with Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova, representatives from the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC), and others hosted a special event at the Fairfax County Government Center to announce brand-new Korean language assistance for the upcoming election.

Fairfax County has one of the largest Korean American populations in the commonwealth.

Find out what's happening in Herndonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Fairfax County Office of Elections has recently been engaged with a diverse group of voter advocates to address the unique needs of the County’s diverse voting population.

At the event, Wolf and Bulova helped announce that there are now four new absentee voting sites across the county that have bilingual Korean and English voting assistants on hand. 

The locations are in Fairfax, Annandale, Springfield and Chantilly. Details are available online.

Bulova said, "Some people view diversity in the community as a challenge. In Fairfax County, we consider diversity one of our greatest strengths. I am pleased that the County is further embracing diversity in the community by improving Korean language assistance in advance of the 2013 Gubernatorial Election."

"I encourage every Fairfax County voter, regardless of age, language ability, or ethnicity, to vote in this November’s election," Bulova added.

Wolf said, "When other counties and states are taking steps back in engaging with the community, especially [Asian American and Pacific Islanders], it is great to see Fairfax County being actively engaged. Korean Americans contribute in many ways to the Virginia community and are impacted the same way as any other Virginia resident. I encourage all unregistered Virginia residents to register to vote and be engaged.”

Many organizations are reaching out to minority voters to help increase Fairfax County's turnout on Nov. 5, as gubernatorial elections historically have had far fewer voters coming out to the polls than presidential elections.

Last year for the presidential election of 2012, Fairfax County's voter turnout was 80.5 percent. In 2009, Virginia's last gubernatorial election, turnout was just 44.6 percent.


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