Poder Latinx, a civic and social justice organization working to build political empowerment in the Latinx community, announced today an initiative called Poder 2020, a voter registration campaign targeting 18-35 year-old Latinx voters.
At a press conference in Washington, Poder Latinx unveiled the first three TV and web ads, which began running in November, and are designed to reach young Latinx voters and motivate them to register and vote. (Sample ads: English, Spanish)
The Poder 2020 campaign also launched a bilingual website – Poder2020.com – where Latinx citizens can register to vote.
“Our goal is to reach a half a million viewers,” said Poder Latinx Co-Executive Director Esteban Garces. “The ads will be posted on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube and will target young Latinx voters in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas. We launched the campaign on-air last week buying TV spots in the Washington, DC area.”
Poder Latinx Co-Executive Director Yadira Sanchez added: “With so much at stake in the 2020 elections, Latinx voter registration must begin immediately. We have to grow the electorate, increase Latinx participation in the caucuses and primaries, and inspire our community to elect the next president. We are reaching out to young Latinxs who will turn 18 years of age before election day, or are eligible but who have not registered yet,”
“In the 2018 midterm elections, 11.7 million Latinx citizens voted, up from 6.8 million in 2014,” said Poder Latinx Senior Advisor Ben Monterosso. “The 2020 election will mark the first time in history that Latinx voters are the largest racial or ethnic group in the electorate so the potential for Latinx political participation is incredible, considering there are an estimated 15 to 18 million Latinx citizens who are eligible to vote but have not done so. Latinx voters will have an outsized impact on the general election and also live in states that have early primaries or are key battleground states.”
The Poder 2020 campaign is a partnership, led by Poder Latinx, with creative direction from MAS Consulting and research and message development from Latino Decisions. Additional partners include America’s Voice, Phone2Action and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
“All across our country, Latinx voters sense this is truly our moment. This is it. We are here, today not mañana, and what we do with this opportunity is totally in our hands to confront voter suppression, organize and mobilize and to have our voices heard in the most powerful way possible in a democracy, our vote,” stated Sindy Benavides, LULAC’s CEO. “LULAC shall lead, as it has always lead, arm in arm with others determined to reclaim right from wrong, speak out where we have been silent, go forward where we have been told go back. This is our challenge and we are ready to assume it with a clear conviction and determination of ensuring that our vote makes the difference in 2020.”
“The most effective and important step Americans can take to improving policies related to Latino, immigrants and the communities in which they live will be by demonstrating the power of those communities at the ballot box,” said Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, a pro-immigrant advocacy group that is partnering with Poder Latinx on the Poder 2020 campaign who spoke at the press conference. “We cannot win good policies from the White House and Congress unless those most affected by those policies are encouraged to vote. We salute the leadership of the Poder 2020 campaign and are honored to be a partner,” continued Sharry.
“A critical strategy to increase Latinx voter turnout in this upcoming presidential election is to close the registration gap,” said Ximena Hartsock, Founder of Phone2Action. “Thus we are thrilled to partner with Poder Latinx to make Phone2Action voter registration tools available to our community. We created Phone2Action to unleash the power of every individual and I can’t think of a more crucial time to empower the Latinx community than now to make a difference in this election.”
