Votamos We Vote coalition launches new website to boost LatinX, Hispanic civic engagement
DELAWARE – The Voatmos We Vote Coalition is sending a strong message to LatinX and Hispanic Delawareans with the launch of a new website.
“Your vote is powerful”
“Yes, your vote is powerful. Your vote is the vote of the ones who don’t have a voice in this democracy. That should inspire us,” said Votamos Founder Charito Calvachi-Mateyko. “When we Latinos vote, we vote in solidarity. Even though it’s nice to say my vote is my voice, we say may vote is our voice.”
On the site, LatinX and Hispanix Delawareans can find information about how to vote, and get involved with democracy, in both Spanish and English.
“We are doing something that is going to be very appealing because we’re talking about who we really are,” said Calvachi-Mateyko. “We realized that’s the giant in us – the beautiful heart that appeals to the heart of everyone. And, we know that we are voting for all of those that don’t have a voice.”
Engaging Everybody
But, it goes beyond those who are able and registered to vote. Calvachi-Mateyko says those who are not able to vote can use the information to encourage LatinX and Hispanic voters to fight for their community.
“There were those that, when I knocked on their doors, said ‘I’m not a citizen,’ and want to close the door. I said, ‘No way. You’re going to open the door wide and we are going to talk about it,'” said Calvachi-Mateyko. “They realized ‘Of course, I can tell my nephew, my son, my employer, my neighbor that they are a citizen and have the right to vote that I don’t have.'”
Voting Out Injustice
Executive Director of the ACLU of Delaware Mike Brickner says COVID-19 exposed disparities in health, housing, working conditions faced by the LatinX and Hispanic community. But, all of those issues can be tackled through civic engagement, says Brickner. “Making sure that they have their voices heard at the ballot box is really instrumental in creating that political pressure and building power for them,” he said.
Brickner says arming LatinX and Hispanic voters with the information they need before heading to the ballot box is the first step in making those changes. “I think this website really fills a gap here in Delaware. Often times, there isn’t good civic engagement and voter information in Spanish,” he said. “I know for myself, as a native English speaker, reading over some of those complex election rules can be confusing for me. So, I can’t imagine if English is your second language. [The process] making sense, and following all the rules, could be very difficult.”
The LatinX and Hispanic communities are the fastest growing groups of people in Delaware, according to Brickner. He says that’s why it’s so crucial to boost their civic engagement. “The LatinX vote is really the sleeping giant here in Delaware,” said Brickner. “This election is an opportunity for Latinx people in Sussex County and across the state to go to the ballot box and vote with their values, and vote for things that will help to further their interests.”
Moving Forward
The coalition is also encouraging LatinX and Hispanic voters to visit VoteDelaware.org to learn more about the candidates they will be voting for come November. There, voters can find a candidate questionnaire centered around immigrants’ rights. “We do want to make sure that everyone knows how to cast their ballot, and how to be engaged politically. We also want to make sure that when they do cast their ballot, that they’re doing so in an informed way,” said Brickner.
Brickner says the coalition is also actively recruiting Spanish-speaking poll workers ahead of the election. “It can really help people who speak English as a second language to have somebody in the polling place who can assist them, and talk to them in their own native language,” he said.
Whichever way the LatinX and Hispanic communities choose to get involved in civic engagement, Calvachi-Mateyko says their action is important. “There is a division between people that are so-called legal and so-called illegal. It’s an invention,” she said. “We have built a beautiful power of democracy in Delaware, and that benefit needs to be found by the Latino community. We are not alone, we are moving forward. It is our time.”
