Harris ticket to spur Jamaican vote in US election

Immigration is among several big-ticket items that could help decide the outcome of the presidential election when Americans head to the polls on Tuesday.

Almost 92 million Americans have voted so far as a majority of states reported record early turnouts.

For more than one million Jamaicans living in the US, this election takes on added significance with the Democratic vice-presidential pick, Kamala Harris, whose father is Jamaican, in line to create history as the first black woman to become second-in-command.

Jamaican-American attorney-at-law Dahlia Walker-Huntington believes that the Trump administration has sought to unravel legal immigration to the US.

“Donald Trump came down the escalator in 2016 and attacked Mexicans and called them names as opposed to attacking illegal immigration.

“What I have seen is the systematic dismantling of the immigration system by this administration to eliminate almost all avenues for families to unite, which is the basis of immigration in America,” the attorney told a Gleaner Editors’ Forum recently.

It is estimated that 40 per cent of the Jamaican population in Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Georgia, states with significant Jamaican populations, are registered voters.

Of these, the vast majority, 76 per cent, are registered Democrats, 14 per cent Republicans, and 10 per cent registered without party affiliation or independent voters.

The Jamaican population in these areas is estimated to be between 1.5 million and 1.7 million.

That metric is counterbalanced, however, by America’s Electoral College system, which determines the presidency regardless of the popular vote.

ELECTORAL FAULT LINE

Educator and businesswoman Norda Morant, a Democratic supporter, agrees that immigration is an electoral fault line.

Morant has decried what she has described as Trump’s dog-whistle appeal to white nationalism amid shifting demographics.

Garth Rose, managing editor of the Caribbean National Weekly newspaper that is published in South Florida, said it is projected that the turnout of Jamaican American voters will be strong – about 80 per cent – and will play a key role in boosting the black vote and the Biden-Harris ticket, especially in toss-up states like Florida and Georgia.

“Of course, this year, Jamaican American voters are extra-motivated by Kamala Harris on the ticket as vice president. Jamaican voters are also voting for better handling of measures to control COVID-19 to curb the bitter divisions in the society, for law-enforcement reform to end brutality against black people, and sensible immigration reforms,” Rose told The Gleaner on Sunday.

In Florida and Georgia, it is estimated that over 60 per cent of Jamaican Americans have voted either by mail-in ballot and early in-person voting up to Saturday, October 31. At least another 20 per cent are expected to vote leading up to election day tomorrow.

Director of Caribbean Immigrant Sevices Irwine Clare opined that having a “sister with roots all the way in St Ann” as a vice-presidential hopeful speaks volumes to the value of immigration.

“This means we have vested interests in this election to recognise that this is our moment,” Clare told the forum.

paul.clarke@gleanerjm.com