With the presidential campaign gearing up, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) of New York, the oldest community-based non-profit organization in Chinatown, thinks it is time to show some political muscle.

York Chan, chairman of CCBA, announced on May 25 that he will form a “Chinese Voters Club” to coordinate voter registration efforts now done sporadically by various civic and community-based organizations.

Chan is urging all the civic and community-based organizations that have voter registration initiatives to contact CCBA. He hopes that there will be a meeting in June to discuss how everyone can work together.

“No matter if they’re in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, or even New Jersey and Connecticut,” said Chan, “I want to let them know that ‘Together, we can do more.’”

Chan commented that votes equal power in a democratic society like the United States. “Chinese have been in this country for over 100 years and have a sizable population. But the political power of the Chinese-Americans,” said Chan, “is considerably weaker than its population would suggest.” According to Chan, the reason is that there has not been a coordinated effort to consolidate this voter block. Chan said that with the up-coming presidential election, the Chinese community needs to pull together and make sure that each one of their votes counts.

CCBA itself is no stranger to voter registration initiatives. It established its citizenship and voter registration team in 2000, and has registered more than 2,000 citizens. Chan said that other groups may have similar or even greater numbers of voters. To add them all up will result in tremendous political strength.

Chan explained that CCBA is a non-partisan group and will never endorse any particular party or candidate. What the club will do is to encourage all citizens to register as voters, and to mobilize voters to come out for the election. “Voting is a very important part of ‘becoming American’,” said Chan.

Mr. Chan welcomes anyone who is interested to contact him at 212-226-6280.