(upbeat music) - Good evening and welcome to Horizonte.

A show that takes a look at the current issues through the Hispanic lens.

I'm your Horizonte host for tonight, Yolanda Garcia, from 12 News en Español.

Our show tonight focuses on Chicanos Por La Causa's Border Outreach Drive.

Which is aimed, not only at the midterm elections, but to seek to engage voters well beyond that.

We'll talk to a representative of CPLC, but first, our producer Julio Cisneros, talk to Mi Familia Vota, Promise Arizona, and Phoenix Indian Center about their own voter outreach, as well.

- We've been doing year round democracy work.

We register Arizonans to vote year round.

We have a lot of people turning 18 every year in Arizona.

So those are opportunities to expand the electorate and include more Arizonans in our democracy.

- And today we are community and we're united behind one voice of your vote is your voice.

We don't have to make a list of all the issues.

There's homelessness, there's affordable housing, there's work.

So, but we need to go out there and vote for our community.

- In this last election, this last major election, particularly in Arizona, the native turnout was huge.

- Mi Familia Vota, just in 2022, has registered over 25,000 new voters.

- It's about creating an opportunity for those that weren't able to get registered, to get registered.

But also to talk about why it's important.

We as American Indians, many of us, we maintain dual citizenship.

So we are very active in our local state and county elections.

- Is that education of voters, So, everyday Arizonans know key election dates, and they know how to vote.

- And joining me tonight is Joe Garcia, Executive Director of Chicanos Por La Causa Action Fund.

Thank you for joining us today, Joe.

- Yeah, thank you.

- You just oversaw a $10 million campaign focused on the Latino voters.

Tell me why was that important?

- Well, we look at it as an investment.

An investment in the future, an investment in our community, and an investment in our democracy.

Because we know that Latinos have not voted, in high numbers, traditionally.

So we really went after not just the Latino vote, but low propensity voters.

Those who have never voted before, or they might not have voted in the last election, or the one before that.

So, we were trying to get people that traditionally haven't voted, engaged, and involved, and activated to vote, in this election and in future elections.

- Joe, throughout the year we might not see a lot of activity, as far as for voter registration.

Why do you think it's important for people to keep that in mind?

Not only when it's close to the election midterms or general election, but throughout the year?

- Yeah, that's the point, is that there isn't the continual dialogue, or riding, on the momentum into the next election.

And I've been talking to a lot of Latino leaders, and they all kind of say the same thing, is that we can't just start from zero before every election and then try to build up.

We need to continue what we've built, and that's what we're looking at now.

So our voter campaign is called Latino Loud.

You've probably seen billboards, there's digital ads, there's mailers, it's all over the place.

But the idea is that our voice needs to be heard, not just in elections, because that's important, 'cause we need to make sure that we are heard at the ballot box.

Because our vote is our voice, but also that we are heard throughout the electoral process and after the election.

That we follow through with what our issues are being addressed, and the issues that need to be heard.

So, it's about a continual dialogue, and not just a one time you vote and you're done.

- Do you have a plan to continue keeping in touch with the Latino community, as far as, you know, what happened after the election, or what's next, or, who is the next person that we need to kind of push a little more to get registered as a voter?

- Yeah, we're looking at obviously Arizona, 'cause this is where we are starting.

CPLC's roots are here in Arizona, but we have operations in five states.

In Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, and also California.

So, we're looking to continue to grow our voter outreach, because we know that if we can continue on, the Latino empowerment is so important, but it has to grow.

So this is so important.

Now I say we look at the future, we have all kinds of t-shirts out there, very colorful, great t-shirts say Latino Loud.

My favorite t-shirt, is the little kid's t-shirt we printed up.

'Cause it has the Latino Loud logo on it, but on there it says "Future Voter."

So we're planting the seed in future generations knowing that, you know, if kids start being expected to vote, and they see their parents vote, and they're gonna continue to vote, not just in 2022, 2024, but beyond.

So we're looking for change behavioral habits, among Latinos, when it comes to voting.

- I understand the campaign went door to door talking to people personally, and telling them, you know, this is why it's important for you to vote.

What did you get from those people that were at home and had not registered or had not voted in the past few elections?

- Yeah, we were upwards to near basically a hundred, 1 million door knocks.

I mean, you know, hundreds of thousands, in the heat, as you know, knocking on doors sometimes no one answers.

So we come back later, knock again until we make make a connection, a human connection.

What we're hearing more and more is that no one has ever contacted them to tell them how important their vote is.

Not a candidate, not a campaign, not a political party.

So for them to hear for the first time that their vote matters, we made that connection, and we got to hear what they thought are important issues.

We've talked a little bit about the ballot, what's on there, important issues.

So for them, making that human connection is so important.

So we try to make it every which way we can.

The mailers went out.

3 million mailers to Latino households statewide, telling people, hey, you've missed the past couple elections, it's important you vote, or here's how you get an early ballot.

So, it was explaining, too, on what you need to do for the process of voting.

We've also been texting people and reminding them, "Hey, you should have gotten your ballot in the mail.

Do you have it?

Did you fill it out?

Did you sign it and date it?"

I mean, some basic information, voter information, we try to make sure.

It's a nonpartisan campaign.

Because for us, the important thing is that people vote.

Doesn't matter if you're Republican, Democrat, Independent or Other.

It's just important that the Latino voice is heard at the ballot box.

- On that point, do you see people leaning more towards one party than the other one?

What did you see out there?

- Well, you know, Latinos are just like everyone else.

I mean we, we all know that at Thanksgiving, probably don't talk about politics, right?

Because, everybody in the same family does not agree on everything.

It's the same with the Latino community.

You know, if anything we found, is probably that there is a general sense that perhaps, one party takes the Latino vote for granted.

Another party, perhaps, takes for granted the Latino vote won't be there, and is working very hard to make sure the Latino vote won't be there through voter suppression and so forth.

But we found that, especially younger voters, are kind of a little disillusioned by the two party system.

And many of them, especially, they're starting to register as Independents.

So they're looking at the candidate and the issues separately from looking at the party.

So they're not going straight Rs, and they're not going straight Ds.

So they're looking at it a little bit differently.

So it's a different lens, the younger lens.

And that's important because for Latinos, we're a very young population, the median age is 26 in Arizona for Latinos.

And you know, so it's a young population.

Everyone that's coming up is, almost all are US born.

They're eligible to vote, turning 18 more and more with every election cycle.

So we're looking at the new electorate for Arizona.

It's just a matter of tapping into that resource, and making sure they vote.

- You mentioned a difference within the Hispanic community before we probably saw that there was more interest on immigration, but maybe it's just a perspective.

You touch upon some topics that are more important.

What are those topics that are more important with new generations?

- Yeah, I mean, some of the topics are the same everywhere, right?

The economy affects everyone.

So obviously we talked about inflation, gas prices, food, supply chain, all that stuff resonates with no matter what the age is.

But as you get younger, and Latinos are a younger population, other things are more important.

Like climate change is important.

People look at that, let's talk about that.

Women's reproductive rights is really big among younger Latinos.

You know, despite what people think of the faith, and conservative faith and so forth, but younger Latinos, it's a woman's right, it's a civil right.

So it's looked upon differently.

Immigration is important to the Latino community 'cause it's personal.

We usually know people, or work beside people, or they could be even members of our family who have real serious consequences on immigration.

But it's not the number one issue when there are so many other issues, like education, which is so important, and voter access, which is so important.

So all these things matter.

Immigration is important, but it's not the overriding factor.

In fact, it's kind of interesting 'cause it seems like the far right conservative anti-immigration, I mean they're pretty much obsessed, almost, with this so-called invasion from Mexico.

That's not viewed upon like that by the Latino community, at all.

It's not all about immigration.

Unfortunately immigration sometimes captures the media attention too much.

And so we're not talking about those key issues, like affordable housing, and healthcare, and education, and all these things that we need to talk about more.

Because this is what resonates with everyday people, are everyday challenges.

- What is the message for people who have not registered to vote, or did not vote on the past elections, and they're just still waiting to see what happened?

What is the message from after your campaign?

- Yeah, it, you know, it's kind oF weird.

Arizona has that weird waiting period, 29 days.

If you don't register to vote within 29 days of an election, you don't get to vote.

It's not that way in all the states.

There are some states you can do same day voter registration.

But Arizona makes it more and more difficult to vote, it seems like.

And you know, 90% of people vote by mail, and there's the big push to get rid of voting by mail.

I mean, so were trying to make it more difficult for people to vote at a time when democracy is at at stake.

So the message that we're giving, more and more, is that, you know, this election matters, but all elections going forward matter.

- Thank you Joe for being with us tonight.

And that's our show for tonight.

For Horizonte and Arizona PBS, I'm Yolanda Garcia.

Have a good evening.

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