According to the Pew Research Center, this year 36.2 million Latines are eligible to vote compared to 2020 when only 32.3 million were eligible. The Latine vote is expected to significantly influence the result of what will be a close presidential race, along with the congressional, state, and local elections this November.
In the same article by the Pew Research Center, data shows that nearly 1.4 million Latines in the U.S. became eligible to vote, meaning about 25% will be voting for the very first time this year.
Latines have the ability to make their voices heard, for themselves and for fellow Latines who can’t vote. Voting is an essential tool that ensures that elected officials remain accountable for the decisions they make.
The Pew Research Center reported that Latines who have the second-fastest growth rate amongst voting groups. This could be pivotal in determining the outcome of the presidential and legislative races in several states. These include California, Florida, and Texas, and swing states such as Arizona and Nevada.
Three independent Latina journalists belonging to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) have decided to hit the road to cover the Latine vote in swing states through their project, ’El Voto Latino 2024: In search of the 36 million’. Carmen Márquez, Carmen Valencia, and Cora Cervantes wanted to explore and understand what Latines are deliberating in this election due to their potential impact.
“Latinos are very diverse, from different backgrounds to thinking differently. Some lean to the left, some lean to the right or they are middle ground,” said Márquez.
Latines voters in Nevada and Arizona
Márquez, Valencia, and Cervantes started in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the surrounding counties to find the Latine community and discover what these communities are being informed on and voting for.
In the interview with the journalists, they stated that they felt the split between political parties in Nevada amongst Latine voters.
“We saw families that are literally torn right through the middle, the wife deciding to vote for [Current Vice President] Kamala Harris while the husband is voting for [former President] Donald Trump,” said Valencia.
She went on to say that they saw a lot of Latine businessmen deciding to vote Republican. “Voting is a personal thing. It’s an emotional thing. We saw some families torn at the idea of their loved ones voting for Donald Trump and that’s kind of what we saw across all the families we spoke with in both states,” said Valencia.
Trump has gained the vote of Latino men as Harris is struggling to win them over. A poll by USA Today found Harris falling behind Trump in Arizona by 12 percentage points among men ages 18-34 and 20 percentage points among men ages 35-49. In Nevada, Harris is behind by 13 percentage points among men ages 18-34 and 14 percentage points for men ages 35-49.
The three journalists asked the Latino men in Clark County, which is where 60% of Nevada’s votes will come from, why they are planning to vote for Trump.
“When you start to dig a little deeper, some of the patterns that we saw were either misinformation impacting the way that they viewed a particular candidate, we asked well ‚where did you hear this? Or what makes them good for the economy? They couldn’t articulate that beyond the media images that he [Trump] has branded with,” said Cervantes.
As of writing, 538 polls in Nevada are reporting that Trump is leading by 0.3%.
The journalists found an abundance of misinformation within the voter’s own reasoning as well as a lot of emotions in choosing who to vote for. Some expressed disappointment and belief that they’ve been lied to by a particular party.
Cervantes, Márquez, and Valencia also met Latines showing their pride in their own way to get out and vote and to get more Latines to vote. They came across a woman named Yudit, who brought together more than 3,000 Latines to ride on their horses to the polls.
Yudit is voting for Harris, but her husband who is a businessman is voting for Trump.
The journalists went to a few popular counties in Nevada that had a huge population of Latine voters and saw others who had different views on candidates than their partners.
Márquez said that being able to speak to Latine voters in swap meets and markets helped her understand the numbers and the pollings. “It’s exciting, like now I understand the numbers. We really got to interact with the Latine voter and understand, that’s been a gift and also a big responsibility,” she said.
Cervantes concluded, after conversations with people in Nevada, that one can’t just be against something, you have to side with someone. “Something that really stood out from people we spoke to, especially when they talked about the economy, because the economy is not just your budget, but it’s the economy your sense of everybody’s well-being. And for me, that was the big takeaway, like the vote did come with a desire for well-being, but it was very misinformed,” Cervantes said.
Cervantes, Márquez, and Valencia said that in Arizona they saw a lot of voter intimidation and voter suppression, something many outside of Nevada don’t know is happening. Márquez said she personally didn’t know that this was happening. “We saw a lot of counties in Arizona voters who are intimidated. We went out there with Lucha Arizona. They had a workshop with defenders of democracy. That’s what they call them, A group of 60 volunteers are going to be somehow watching, protecting the election,” Márquez said.
These ‘defenders of democracy’ are going to be monitoring the polls during the November 5th election.
The journalists stated what really motivated them to pursue the ‘El Voto Latino 2024: In search of the 36 Million’ project was the amount of misinformation in their own homes.
The power of first-time Latine voters
This year there will be an influx of first-time Latine voters. Across the United States, 4.1 million Latines have turned 18 since the last presidential election.
Nathalia Hernandez, a first-time Latina voter, is voting for an independent party. “I think I am making an impact by voting, I know the Latine community is extremely impacted when it comes to the election– no matter what candidate it is,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez is concerned about various issues such as America’s involvement in Palestine and the unhoused population. “One of the main things I’m concerned about would be in regards to the funding of the war in Palestine or funding of war period. Why invest more money in the military to kill children when that money could go towards American citizens?...Another would also be the homelessness issue and people not having a livable place to sleep in. As well as inflation, the economy and immigration” Hernandez said.
First-time Latine voters have the power to impact political outcomes in the United States because of the increase of how many Latines turned 18-years-old this year. Voto Latino said that the younger generation of Latine Americans is concerned about student loans, equity in the job market, the growing climate change, immigration reform, and accessible health care.
First-time voters will be voting for candidates whose policies align with their opinions on these pressing issues. However, this generation of voters is receiving information through social media, raising concerns about misinformation.
Independent journalist Carmen Valencia, emphasizes the importance of voters’ doing their own research across diverse platforms to fully understand what they’re voting on.
“I also think it’s really important to have these conversations with friends, family, and within your community because I think a lot of people are afraid to have these conversations. We do live in a time that politics is very much polarized, so everyone is afraid to say something,” said Valencia.
Recently, Vice President Harris has gained support from several major Latine artists including Ricky Martin and Bad Bunny. Their endorsement came after racist remarks made about Latines and Puerto Ricans by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at a Trump rally at Madison Square Grande in New York City.
“I think it’s good for artists to use their platform for good, using their voices, but I think as a society, you have to be critical and lean on your own research,” said Valencia.
Marquez added that even though one might be a fan of an artist, one is responsible for their own vote. “I think it’s an ongoing thing with like, the Democratic Party using artists and like, the Republican Party, using millionaires, like Elon Musk giving a million dollars. Everyone fights with what they can, but at the end of the day, as a voter, your responsibility is to be really well informed and to vote for yourself and for your community.”
Cervantes added that Latines are the future, “by 2050, Latinos will have plurality in the United States, and that’s being shaped now, and so that’s why it’s important to explore those 36 million votes through these two states that we looked at,” she said.
“I don’t think we have to worry about people in our community understanding what’s at stake. I think we have to worry about it beyond this election and the long term and figuring out how we explain the ability to think critically and question the information they receive,” Cervantes said.
Cervantes, Márquez, and Valencia are using their platform to share their findings and to remind people the importance of the people’s right to vote and the importance of researching. “We are writing these articles with Palabra, we’re looking at radio stations that are trusted by the community to share our findings and looking for accurate information and seeking out sources,” said Cervantes.
Cervantes, Márquez, and Valencia will be holding special election coverage with Benjamin Zamora on Instagram on November 5th.
“We will be hosting the very first election, coast-to-coast election coverage from an independent standpoint, through Latino journalists that are using social media as their primary medium and have a touch point in the communities where they live,” said Marquez.