This time two years ago, Pulaski County Election Commissioner Joshua Ang Price was gearing up for what would unfold into a nightmare scenario of close-call races, marathon meetings and even an accusation of physical assault by an election worker against the Republican woman serving as commission chair at the time.
Price is no longer on the election commission, but his firsthand experience navigating byzantine rules to get ballots qualified and tallied informs his ongoing work. Now the deputy director of Arkansas United, a nonpartisan immigrants’ rights advocacy group, Price continues the battle for ballot access by fighting laws that infringe on voting rights and letting voters know about the headaches they might encounter so they can be prepared.
Price recently gave an interview to the news organization Al Jazeera about barriers that keep Arkansas last in the country for voter turnout. He shared a story about his own mother, an immigrant from the Philippines, showing her drivers license and pointing to her name in the voter rolls, but being told by a poll worker that she would need to show a passport as proof she was a “real American.” This intimidation and shaking down of brown voters is obviously not legal, but it’s not uncommon either, Price said.
Now anecdotally, we’re talking to our immigrant communities, and this is happening all the time. I told this story to members of different Asian communities, Hispanic communities, and they’re like, ‘The same thing happened to me.’
Price talks about more obstacles to look out for, and what to do if you encounter them, in the full interview (no paywall).
