Hispanic VotersThis is the year of the Hispanic voter in America.
A massive demographic shift is happening and 27.3 million Hispanic voters, approximately 18% of all eligible US voters, will have a definitive say in the politics of this country.
In downtown Phoenix, the nation’s fifth-largest city, trucks selling tacos are encouraging eligible Hispanic voters to register. Volunteers knock door to door ignoring triple digit temperatures in Hispanic neighborhoods, called “Barros,” encouraging eligible voters to register and to get out and vote on November 8.
Volunteers tell them why it is critically important to register to vote, they share Hispanic success stories and are asking them to engage more with civic society.
Young Hispanics like Cristian Avila (22), whose parents crossed the border from Mexico and arrived in Arizona when he was nine-years-old are changing the discourse. After coming to America, Avila got enrolled in US schools, became part of mainstream America but as he grew older he was classified as an illegal immigrant and denied the right to work.
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How can a nine-year-old know that he would be denied a piece of the American dream because his parents illegally crossed the border?
Avila has a temporary respite, thanks to the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) authorized by the Obama administration in 2012. “Dreamers,” like him get a renewable temporary two-year work permit. This is no Green Card- it allows him to work, study and drive. Avila cannot leave the country and go to neighboring Mexico to see his extended family. If he does that, he will never be able to re-enter.
Individuals like Avila are knocking on Hispanic homes telling their stories. “Look, I am like you. But I cannot vote. You need to go out and vote so that you can help me vote one day.”
Half of the 27.3 million eligible Hispanic voters in the US are millennial with a median age of 19, according to the Pew Research Center. They are creating the most diverse electorate in the history of the United States.
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Hispanics hold wide influence in Florida, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and California. Almost one in four in Florida is Hispanic and though they tend to lean toward Democrats in most states, in Florida there are plenty who favor Republicans.
However, they lag behind in voter turnout. Only close to half of all Hispanics (48%) voted in the 2014 elections while 66% of Blacks and 64% of Whites voted, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
This year, they are working hard just to change that. Hispanics want to get away from a feeling of being neglected. They are ready to fight against lousy schools in their neighborhoods, lack of transportation, immigration issues, and poor healthcare.
Hispanic voter participation has often faced three main gaps, said Ian Danley, Director, One Arizona at an event organized by Collectivo, a local Hispanic networking group in Phoenix. There are Hispanics who are eligible to vote but have not become citizens, there are those who are citizens but do not register to vote and finally, there are registered voters who do not get to the polls on Election Day. Each gap needs to be closed so that there can be more Hispanic voter participation.
It’s also difficult to get older Hispanic voters to participate in the polls as they feel they have been left out of mainstream America. This leads to White politicians from both Democrat and Republican parties asking: Where is the evidence that Hispanics will come and vote on Election Day?
The giant evidence is coming, say Hispanic activists who are relying on the power of grassroots voters.
Grassroots efforts include an early entry into schools through civic engagement classes to promote voter registration, unity among Latino television stations to do public service advertisements to promote the importance of voting and having volunteers going door to door encouraging Hispanics to go to the polls.
White campaign managers find the “door to door,” knocking hard, especially to reach Hispanic voters. Here, the largely insular, personal space cherished by independent Western thinking clashes with “La Familia,” an emphasis on family and collectivism among Hispanic voters.
As America gets ready for a huge demographic shift, politicians who can tap into the collective spirit of Hispanics and address their issues of poverty, education, health care and immigration reform will succeed.
The Hispanic voter will come out and vote this year. They will, for their sake and for the sake of America.
(Sarat Pratapchandran is a US-based writer whose career spans content management, philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. A master’s in mass communication from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University and Kerala University, he now works as a fund raiser for a major US-based health sciences university)
