Distrust, disillusionment and disenchantment: abstention weighs down the Latino vote

Before moving to the State of Maryland, where he resides, Jorge Velázquez used to vote in Puerto Rico, his birthplace. Since he left there, more than a decade ago, he hasn’t done it again. At 33 years old, he works in a barbershop in Takoma Park, Maryland. “I don’t vote because I don’t think any candidate favors me. “Biden has no reputation for working for Latinos and Trump is anti-immigrant,” he says. His wife is Salvadoran and he has been in the regularization process for a year, but she knows that there are compatriots who have been waiting for more than a decade to have their papers in order. He also does not believe that the process will advance whoever wins. Velázquez lives with his back turned to politics and there is no message that will make him change his mind.

Jorge’s case is not isolated. There is a high abstention rate among Latinos, especially among young people. Every 30 seconds a Latino turns 18, the legal age to vote, and in elections that are predicted to be very close, they can determine who will be the new tenant of the White House. More than 36 million Hispanics will have the right to vote, four million more than in 2020. United States electoral legislation requires that all voters be registered and that is where the first obstacle appears. 72% of all voters registered to vote in 2020; Among non-Hispanic white citizens, 74% did so, while only 61% of Latinos completed this procedure.

Bonard Molina García, a 44-year-old lawyer who lives in the Washington metropolitan area, perceives the disenchantment among young people. “They need to vote, but they are disillusioned, disconnected from politics. They are potential votes, but they do not understand the importance of voting,” explains Molina, born in Mexico and with American nationality. His son Lucas, 19, has already registered and will vote for the first time this year.

Several organizations are dedicated to promoting voting among Latinos. With home visits, advertisements in the media, social networks or stands in meeting places, they inform them, often in Spanish, how to register and what their rights are. “We make them understand that those communities that have a high voting rate are those that have better resources, better schools, hospitals. We also try to break one of the myths they may have from their countries of origin, where they think that the electoral process does not impact their lives,” says Frankie Miranda, president of the Hispanic Federation. This year, he scored a victory when a federal judge blocked a law in Florida that fined people who, without being citizens, registered others to vote with $50,000. Many of the volunteers they work with only have a residency permit and the law would have a negative impact on the registration of Latinos.

The identification

The lack of information and distrust in authorities in a system that has historically disparaged minorities discourages Hispanics from registering. “They don’t want to give information because they are afraid that it will become public and harm them,” says Ameer Patel, program director of Voto Latino, an organization focused on stimulating voting among young people that aims to register half a million Hispanics before November.

The registration process is usually simple: fill out a form with your name, surname and address. It can be done online, by mail or in person. But 21 states require a photo ID, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida and North Carolina. In the latter, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has taken the law that imposes this requirement to trial on the grounds that it was implemented with a discriminatory intention against African Americans and Latinos, since they are twice as likely to lack it as non-Hispanic whites.

“One of the most common forms of photo identification is the driver’s license, but many have not gotten it, especially if they live in urban areas, because they do not have a car,” criticizes Angélica Razo, director of voting programs and campaigns. Latino from Mi Familia en Acción. Another way to identify yourself is a passport, “but not everyone has it, as it also requires an expense,” she adds. Texas is another State where a photo is required; It is also the one with the highest concentration of Latinos, with 32% of the total. In the southern state, a student card is not used to register, but a firearms license is.

Proponents justify the identification requirement because it minimizes fraud. “Voting without identification damages the electoral system,” says Daniel Garza, president of the Free Institute. In his opinion, those who advocate the opposite “demonize Republicans by saying that they want to repress the Latino vote, but it islie,” he says.

His organization is part of the Vota Conmigo campaign, which the Spanish-speaking network Univisión launched this month to promote the participation of Latinos and to which several entities with opposing political positions have joined. “It’s not about politics, it’s about empowering the Latino voice,” emphasizes Teri Arvesu, head of the campaign. Ricky Martin, Luis Fonsi and Roselyn Sánchez participated in previous ads and the network is in the process of recruiting other celebrities.

Another obstacle that some States put in place is the impossibility of voting by mail. Many Latinos cannot leave their jobs and endure long lines to exercise their right. Celia Salmerón, a 54-year-old Salvadoran who works as a hairdresser outside the District of Columbia, did not vote in the last election. She has been in the United States for 41 years and has been a citizen for 20. “I never had time to go. It’s easier if they send it by mail, you don’t have to wait so long in line,” she says.

Latino organizations complain that in minority-residence areas there are fewer places to vote and lines can last several hours. For this reason, laws such as the one in Georgia, which prohibits offering water or food to those waiting their turn to vote, have been very controversial. In eight States, including California and Nevada – where 33% and 22% of voters are Latino, respectively – the ballot is received by mail without having to request it.

For participation among Latinos to improve, in addition to overcoming logistical obstacles, it is necessary for them to feel part of society. Flavia Rodríguez, Mexican by birth, runs a cosmetics and nutrition business in Langley Park, Maryland. Even though she has lived 29 of her 51 years in the United States, she denounces the discrimination her family has suffered. She claims that the treatment worsened during Donald Trump’s presidency and that her daughters “suffered in school for having Hispanic surnames.” ”In the library, their classmates asked them if they worked as cleaners,” she remembers. Although she claims to have voted in 2020 for Joe Biden, she believes that Latin culture does not make her vote count: “We feel that it is not important, that is why we do not vote. Also because we don’t know what is happening, we are focused on surviving.”

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