A white, gold and fluffy dress.
The dance floor in dim light and a waltz playing.
Guys with sweaty palms, laughter in the bathroom, a photo booth, and a table to register to vote.
This is how Eulogia Rodríguez imagines her 15-year party.
This time it will be her who gives a gift to the guests: motivate them and register them to vote.
How to get Latinos to vote?
In every election, Democrats, Republicans, and nonpartisan organizations rack their brains for the answer.
They set up booths in bars, on college campuses and at community events, knock on doors, and in some cases go beyond traditional methods: like registering people to vote at quinceañeras.
This is what Poder Quince does, a program to increase electoral participation from this rite of passage for young women both in Latin America and in the Hispanic community in the United States.
A group of quinceañeras gathered as part of the Poder Quince initiative to boost voting among Latinos. Isai Diaz / Poder Quince
Poder Quince is part of the Jolt Initiative, an organization that seeks to increase voting in Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
Important races are played out in Texas in these midterm elections, as well as in Florida, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
And
Latino voters are key to all of them: They are the second largest group of eligible voters in the country and one of the fastest growing
, according to the Pew Research Center.
In 2022, nearly 35 million Latinos will be eligible to vote, 14% of all eligible voters in the nation.
[Experts believe this election could be historic]
Quinceanera parties are like a glimpse into the heart of Latin culture and are a special moment for the whole family and community, explains Guillermina Cepeda, the mother of Eulogia Rodríguez, who is 14 years old and is just preparing her party with Poder Quince. in San Antonio.
“I always wanted a fifteenth birthday party, since I was little, but my parents didn't have the possibility of having a big party.
You just went to a little taco stand and that you were well combed and bathed... that was the celebration, "says Cepeda.
And what better time than that celebration, mother and daughter agree, to connect their community with the knowledge and tools necessary to get ahead as immigrants in the United States.
Lin-Manuel Miranda believes that "Latinas can save this election" and together with her father calls for an "educated" vote
Oct. 20, 202202:38
So while guests line up to get their photo taken at a booth Jolt sets up, they can also register to vote.
The organization offers guidance to girls to give a speech at the party and in the following years until accompanying them to register on their 18th birthday.
“I want to be a part of that and support it because it's also part of my culture,” says Eulogia.
It was important for her to get involved this year to defend women's reproductive rights, she says, following the Supreme Court's June overturn of Roe v.
Wade who protected the right to abortion.
[Who will control Congress and everything that is at stake in the 2022 elections]
Poder Quince was born in response to the “hate campaign” of the 2016 presidential election, says Christine Bolanos, director of communications for Jolt, the brainchild of Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, president and CEO of NextGen America.
“Some 50,000 quinceañera parties are held in Texas each year, thus bringing together millions of Hispanics to celebrate the quinceañeras of young Latinos,” says Bolanos.
“There are a lot of potential voters out there who are missing out because no one else is reaching out to them.”
"Even though I'm not old enough to vote, I feel like I helped empower my family to make their voices heard. Too often that immigrant mindset prevents us from speaking up or believing we have something to say, but we're as American as anyone else." We have the right to defend our rights," says Genesis Ruiz. Power Quince
“Voting is an act of love”
The strong sense of community among Latinos is what these organizations seek to harness to transform it into a political power that is noticeable at the polls.
“It is very important that we understand that
voting is an act of love, towards our community, towards our family, towards our Mother Earth
,” says Felipe Benítez, executive director and founder of Corazón Latino.
This initiative was launched in 2020 to "educate, empower and mobilize the Latino community to go out and vote," he says.
[How to vote in the midterm elections? This is what you should know]
In 2022, they partnered with the organization EcoMadres to relaunch Soy Latino, Sí Voto, an award-winning voter turnout campaign, focusing on Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada, where key races are taking place this year.
They were joined by Lalo Alcaraz, the award-winning cartoonist and author of the comic strip La Cucaracha, the first nationally syndicated Latino daily political comic strip launched in 2002. Alcaraz publishes weekly editorial cartoons for the campaign, focusing on issues crucial to Latinos like employment and inflation.
“Lalo helps us bring that Latin spirit, that Latin culture that is deeply rooted in our traditions, but also deeply rooted in the reality that those of us who live in this country live,” explains Benítez.
"Latin Power"
The key is to connect emotions with voting, although voting is also a very analytical and rational process, says Benítez.
And what better way to do it than with music, with cumbia, reggaeton and reggae songs, written by Latin artists such as Puerto Rican Ale Croatto and Venezuelan Jonathan Acosta.
The songs are being broadcast in Nevada, Arizona and Georgia on social media, television and radio.
“Latino power is in our vote,” says one of the songs, and by not voting, explains Benítez, we leave in the hands of others the decisions that will affect our lives, from education to the air we breathe and the money we carry. our pockets.
[This Latina came to the US with very little decades ago. She now leads the largest voter organization in the country]
“The future of your family, of your community, the reason why your family, or you, or your ancestors came to this country was for a better future.
The best way to honor that journey, that effort, is by voting….
It is an honor to do so”, says Benítez.
Vote like mothers
Voting for loved ones is also the motto of Vote Like a Madre, a campaign by Latino Victory US.
Jennifer Lopez, Eva Longoria, Camila Cabello, Jessica Alba, Rita Moreno and Angélica María, among others, have joined the initiative, in which they invite mothers and mother figures to make a promise that they will vote and that they will for a better future for their children and family, in particular for policies that combat the climate crisis.
“For me [this] is important because all my children are born here and I want them to participate in anything good in this country,” says Guillermina Cepeda, the mother of fifteen-year-old Eulogia.
"Let them educate themselves, think about the future, in these elections, because that is their future, their strength."
“I think they will listen to me,” says Eulogia, thinking of her quinceañera, complete with a voting information booth.
Hearing her speak, Cepeda is filled with pride.
And on the day of her daughter's party, she says, "my heart is going to want to come out."
