5 Women Who Are Mobilizing The Latino Community For The Midterm Elections
Jackie Reyes
Again, the mid-term elections will be pivotal. Again, the Latino vote is vital to the outcome. Again, efforts are underway to get Latino voters to the polls. Again.
The midterm elections this year are a pivotal time for activation, regardless of what side of the aisle you stand on. The Latino vote particularly is being mobilized by some of the nation’s most established organizations, like the NAACP, and startups alike.
Sindy M. Benavides, Chief Operating Officer at League of United Latin American Citizens, emphasizes how a big part of their outreach strategy is to properly define civic engagement with actions.
“Civic engagement is often perceived as voting but in reality encompasses so much more,” explains Benavides. “Civic engagement is our collective responsibility to create the future we want our children to see.”
At the NAACP, Aba G. Blankson, Vice President of Communications and Digital Media, makes it a point that all outreach is inclusive of Afro-Latinxs and issues important to the community.
“The Afro-Latinx community plays a critical role in our membership and in our legal and legislative agenda,” shares Blankson. “We’ve been outspoken legal advocates for the Afro-Caribbean community, filing suit against the Department of Homeland Security for rescinding TPS status for Haitian immigrants.”
Below these 5 Latinas share how they are using their roles to make an impact not only on a legislative level, but also on a grassroots level
Ximena Hartsock — Co-founder and President, Phone2Action
Nunez: How are you working to inspire the Latino community for the midterm elections?
Hartsock: We created a free resource for people to register to vote, find polling locations and access other valuable GOTV information called MyVoteMatters.co – Myvotocuenta. The site features a messenger bot that works as an assistant if the individual needs help navigating the website. Three of our Civic Technology Fellows will work exclusively on midterm elections. One of them, Azhalia Leal, an amazing student organizer from March for Our Lives Texas, will work the entire summer supporting youth efforts for Latino GOTV.
