Latino Vote OurVote Matters

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bgillgroup.com. | Foto: Alixon Collazos bgillgroup.com. | Foto: Alixon Collazos

Our Vote Matters!

September 15th marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, it is the time where we, latinx, proudly showcase our cultural, economic and social diversity; it is a time to take stock of how far we have come as a community, but also a time to reflect on how much further we need to go. It is a time to proudly wave our individual nation’s flags and sing our national anthems all while celebrating the country that has allowed our dreams, hard work and tenacity to prosper. It is a time of celebration, flag raisings, cultural programs, good food and parades. Yes, indeed we have parades; and no one knows the significance of our parades more than public and elected officials. By Alixon Collazos

Public and elected officials understand the value of our vote, much better that we understand it ourselves, and they capitalized on that. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact I am thrilled to see elected officials marching along parade routes, waving to the great number of latinx standing along the streets excited to be seen by their representatives. Representatives that we, with our votes have put in place. Our Vote Matters! It matters so much that in 2018, a year with the highest voter participation in close to 100 years, latino voter turnout reached 11.7 million also a high record for a midterm election. This is not a coincidence. 2018 was also the year in which all major racial and ethnic groups saw a historic jump in voter turnout: Hispanic and Asians each saw a 13 percentage point increase from 2014, while whites increased by 11.7% and African American increased by 10.8%

Furthermore, analysis by the Pew Research Center found that the number of Latino voters nearly doubled from 2014 to 2018, “Latino voter turnout reached 11.7 million in 2018 up from 6.8 million in 2014 – the single largest increase on record from one midterm election to another”. Latinos are on track to continue to be the largest minority of voters in the next 2020 election with approximately 29 million eligible latino voters up from 25 million in 2016.

VotoLatino, a national non-profit organization founded 15 years ago with the goal of increasing latinx voter participation, clearly understands that voter registration alone is not enough to affect election results. Instead, constant communication with the eligible voters, education, and presence of issues and candidates is what really generates movement in elections and 2020 is just around the corner.

New jersey is a small but mighty state of a little over 9 million people with an approximate latino population of 1.8 million and 918,000 of them are ELIGIBILE VOTERS. In New Jersey, 14.8% of the eligible voter population is Latino, ranking 8th in the country. New Jersey also ranks 7th, among all states, in eligible Latino voters. The other states, not surprisingly are California, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas. So, what does this mean for New Jersey? It means political entities of all kinds need to pay attending to latinx voters and the latinx needs. It means, communicating with us often and respectfully, it means investing on latinx voter registration programs, it means educating communities on election cycles, which in New Jersey is a year-round occurrence. It also means communicating with the entire latinx community, not only the eligible voters but with their entire family. Mix status families living together are common and the well-being of the family depends of all of its individual members.