Motivated to Vote

By: Sarah Remelius

November 2, 2016

Donald Trump has motivated Latinos to vote in this upcoming election.

Sadly, for Trump, most of these votes will be against him. Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, said that Trump’s rhetoric toward Latino people during his campaign has encouraged more people to go out and vote, but it is still “not enough.”

“The question is will more vote? I think only if ground effort and media is invested to turnout Latinos,” Camarillo said. “For Latinos, the youngest electorate, the median age of voters is 22. We need to have direct contact which is costly to turn out Latinos. Other than SVREP, who works to expand the Latino vote in Texas and other states every year, there is little to no investment to expand the Latino vote.”

But there is a group of passionate, feminist Latinos, called FLORES, which stands for Feminist Latinx Organization Empowering Society, that is urging others in their community to go out and vote due to what they say is at stake with a Trump presidency.

“If Trump wins this election, I feel that it will be a step backwards for society,” said Nikki Lopez, president of FLORES. “Donald Trump’s campaign has normalized prejudice, racism, and sexism, all of which only serve to divide our nation. With this divide, feminist Latinx issues will fall to the wayside as the issues Donald Trump campaigns on will take precedent.”

There are 27 million Latinos eligible to vote. Of those, 15 million are registered to vote and an expected 82 to 84 percent will vote at the national level, according to SVREP. In Texas voters must be registered to vote almost a month before the actual election in order to cast their vote, which could be a reason why voter participation in Texas is lower than that of other states.

“Texas has systematic and structural barriers that prevent a high number of voter registration,” Camarillo said. “States that require voters to register within 10 to seven days out from the election are able to have higher voter registration numbers than Texas that requires people to register 30 days out from the election day. States with registration on Election Day have a higher amount of voters registering and cast their vote like Colorado.”

Camarillo said that Latinos tend to vote for the Democratic nominee because they care about jobs, the economy, and education. In 2012 Latino voters favored President Obama over Mitt Romney 71 percent to 27 percent.

“The GOP want less government, and Democrats understand the government has a role in American society,” Camarillo said. “Latinos know that with government, we have public schools, education, roads, hospitals, so forth.”

Although Latinos tend to vote for candidates in the Democratic Party, the members of FLORES hope more issues facing Latinos will be brought up by both candidates.

“There is more to be discussed about issues that would affect Latinx citizens,” Lopez said. “For instance, the DREAM Act, the wage gap, and immigration issues. Narratives keep changing from both parties and hopefully we will hear concrete answers from both candidates.”

One topic that struck a chord with the members of FLORES was a recording of Trump saying vulgar comments about women, which was released in October. After the video surfaced he lost support from a group of senators and House of Representative members, such as Paul Ryan, the current Speaker of the House.

“In regards to his recent sexual misconduct with women, I find it disturbing how he is normalizing the rape culture present in America,” Lopez said. “As a presidential nominee that is supposed to serve as a role model to the citizens of America and the world, his actions and words towards women demonstrate his inability to do so.”

Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential nominee in American history, which Lopez said could be seen as a step in the right direction for women.

“It’s a pivotal moment for the United States because Secretary Clinton’s campaign for president has created a precedent for girls aspiring for higher political positions,” Lopez said. “People of color and of any gender identity should be encouraged by the current political changes. I am hopeful to see these changes in the near future.”

Although there is a lot of attention and importance surrounding presidential elections, the members of FLORES said what really will make a difference is activism at the local level.

“I honestly feel that future is up to us, not those in office, to push for change,” FLORES member Victoria Vela said. “We must push them and ourselves to think critically about the issues we have and to start looking outside our existing economic and political systems to do this. We must remember that change comes from the bottom, and we should not become complacent after the election.”