KENT COUNTY, Mich. — "I remember very vividly when my parents became naturalized citizens," said Charissa Huang in her Grand Rapids office. "I was in like, third grade. It was an evening ceremony, so they had a babysitter come and watch me for the evening. And when they came home, just the level of excitement that they had about finally being U.S. citizens after a very long road of working to get there, was just unforgettable."
"The fact that they could finally vote was just so important to them," she said.
Huang is the oldest daughter of Taiwanese immigrants.
Years after her parents cast their first ballots as new American citizens, Huang is now on the ballot for 17th Circuit Court Judge.
She's also now the first Asian American to be on a Kent County ballot.
Huang's candidacy comes after Bing Goei became the first Asian American to serve as a Grand Rapids City Commissioner for the Third Ward in March.
These historic firsts come as the county sees growing civic engagement among its Asian-American communities.
According to data collected by the Pew Research Center, Asian Americans have been the fastest-growing voting group for the past two decades.
In the past four years, the number of eligible Asian-American voters has grown by 15%.
"That's 2 million," said Huang. "Around 2 million people since 2020, and that's compared with only 3% growth rate in the entire U.S. population of eligible voters."
More than half of eligible Asian-American voters are naturalized citizens.
"Our communities are so diverse, and so we're asking all our Asian leaders to help with educating our communities," said Minnie Morey, executive director for the West Michigan Asian American Association.
Morey said it's a community-wide effort within the Asian-American community to increase civic engagement.
Since 2010, the association's mission has been to facilitate communication between West Michigan's diverse Asian-American communities to address common needs.
The association is now partnering with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the City of Grand Rapids to use education as a means of empowering people to recognize their rights.
"We are doing a series of 'Know Your Rights' workshops for our diverse Asian communities. We are focusing basically on the communities like the new immigrants, new Americans, refugees, who have limited English proficiency, to educate them about their civil rights, including voting rights," said Morey.
The association has recently hosted workshops at local businesses for members of local Chinese-American, Vietnamese-American, and Nepali-American communities.
"When they first come to this country and then they become citizens, they should understand that they have a right to vote," said Morey. "And they should use that right as much as possible because our vote means something."
"No matter your background, no matter whether you are a new American or your family has been here for generations and generations, your vote is the same as everyone else's vote. And so I think it's important that people know that and that people get out and vote," said Huang.