Election 2020: Latinx Women’s Vote Could Affect The Outcome

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Volunteer Esmeralda Raymond gets a roll of «I Voted stickers ready at a polling site in Las Vegas on the first day of in-person early voting on Oct. 17.

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Gloria María Jímenez, says she’s voting in person in York, Pa., in this election not only to make her voice heard, but also to give voice to Latinx who can’t vote.

Gloria María Jímenez

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Gloria María Jímenez

Lourdes Vázquez became a U.S. citizen two years ago and she’s voting for the first time in this election. She’s here with her daughter Yuridia Cruz, 30, a U.S.-born citizen.

Lourdes Vázquez

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Lourdes Vázquez

Vázquez says that she raised her two U.S.-born children to be politically engaged, even though she didn’t have the privilege to vote, until now.

«Mama, I’m going to vote for you and me, her daughter, Yuridia Cruz, 30, would tell her.

Vázquez voted already in Las Cruces, N.M., where she lives. I’m relieved, she says in a soft voice.

Lourdes Vázquez is among more than 18,000 immigrants in New Mexico who have become citizens since 2014. About 57% of them are women and a majority from Mexico, according to a recently released report. These new citizens are expected to play a key role in this year’s elections though the impact will depend on how many go to the polls.

Despite the growing Latinx eligible voter population in the U.S., currently at 32 million, their electoral power has been historically limited by low voter turnout, according to the Pew Research Center.

«Latinos and Latinas are energized to vote now, says Clarissa Martínez De Castro, deputy vice president with UnidosUS, the largest, nonpartisan Latinx advocacy organization in the country.

Martínez De Castro says campaigns need to do a better job at voter registration outreach, especially targeting Latinx women.

«Often women are apolitical due to language barriers, feeling insecure about navigating the voting process and thinking that their vote won’t make a difference, she says.

She says Bernie Sanders’ campaign successfully registered a high number of Latinx. «It’s not rocket science. It boils down to get to be known by the community, get your positions known in the community and do outreach. It pays off, she says.

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A recent UnidosUS survey shows that the issues energizing Latinx women in this election include «an effective response to the pandemic, lowering the cost of health care and job creation, followed by growing concerns about discrimination against immigrants and Latinos, Martínez De Castro says.

«I’m tired of seeing so much injustice, says voter Rosa María Capellán.

«Dreamers should be allowed to stay in this country, she says referring to participants of Obama’s program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. It protects undocumented persons from deportation – immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Capellán, 66, is retired. She worked as a nurse in her native Dominican Republic, but in York, Pa., she sorted recycled materials in the office of waste and management, she says.

She lives with her husband, her grown son and his family, including two grandchildren. Capellán is the main caretaker in the family, she says. She and her diabetic husband tested positive for COVID-19 in June. Both have recovered.

«The stress of testing positive was worse than the symptoms, she says.

She says she «worried to death about her husband whose high fever would not subside for weeks, and also about infecting her son’s family.

Capellán, who describes her family and herself as devout Christians says, «President Trump lacks humanity, he’s selfish and arrogant.

She says Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic reflects that. «People, especially people of color, are dying from COVID-19 and he’s not doing anything. She says the administration’s inaction feels racist to her.

According to a recent survey, Latinx women could change the election. With the crushing impact of the coronavirus on the Latinx community, more than 50% of Latinx women disapprove of Trump’s handling of the pandemic; 77% say Trump ignored early COVID-19 warning signs and downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic, and 67% say they’ll vote for Joe Biden.

«These are the most important elections of our lives as immigrants, as people of color and women, says Jossie Flor Sapunar, communications director at Casa in Action, an organization that has been doing voter outreach work in immigrant and people of color communities in the Mid-Atlantic region for the past 10 years.

She says the Trump administration has demonstrated it’s «very anti-immigrant, very anti-Black. If these elections don’t bring about change, she says, «We as Latinos, as immigrants, as people of color are in big trouble because that means the policies that will turn out in these next four years are going to attack us.