During a press conference marking the beginning of the 85th Annual League of United Latin American Citizens Convention (LULAC), National Executive Director Brent Wilkes announced that LULAC was partnering with the Hispanic Federation and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) to mobilize Latino voters ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. This coalition of prominent Latino organizations hopes to foster Latino civic engagement and increase voter turnout through a campaign they are calling the “Movimiento Hispano.”
LCLAA’s Executive Director Hector Sanchez noted that the initiative grew out of the recognition that Latinos have been disproportionately attacked and marginalized by Republican-led anti-immigrant legislation. Sanchez said that “Movimiento Hispano is about getting the basic element of democracy to the streets.” Sanchez continued, “We’re going to be mobilizing all over the nation. We’re going to make sure that we keep those politicians out that are anti-immigrant, anti-Latinos and anti-democracy, that are anti-all-the-basic-values of freedom.”
The movement seeks to register 52,000 new Latino voters. Furthermore, in an effort to bolster voter turnout for the critical November midterms, the coalition will also work to mobilize 100,000 Latinos who are already registered voters. Movimiento Hispano is using innovative social media platforms that specifically target Latino millennial voters. The leaders of the movement underscored the importance of ensuring that voter participation is not just limited to Presidential elections, but instead consistent across all election cycles.
Wilkes noted that one cannot understate the value of these mobilization efforts because “When you start a young voter off and they vote once, twice, three times in a row, you now have a lifetime voter, and that’s really important to us.”
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