Angelica Santos-Lugo, a Mi Familia Vota volunteer, spent hours under the blazing Arizona sun to get people to register to vote.
“The spirit and energy of everyone that works here or volunteers here is the same,” said Santos. “We all have that enthusiasm to talk to people and ask them, ‘hey are you registered to vote yet?’”
“Wherever community is, we’re there to help you register to vote,” said the organization’s Arizona State Director Carolina Rodriguez-Greer.
Mi Familia Vota is a non-profit organization that prioritizes voter participation as well as social and economic justice for Latino immigrants and allies. They’re actively canvassing and hosting community information sessions to inform people on voting registration, education and rights.
From music festivals to speaking at schools for Voter Registration Day, Mi Familia Vota is constantly empowering immigrants to vote.
According to Mi Familia Vota’s citizenship forums, many immigrant Latinos are motivated to become U.S. citizens because they want to vote in the next election.
“The Latino community is realizing that they’re bearing the brunt of a lot of negative attacks from people and the best way to counteract that is with our vote and I speak as an immigrant and as a voter in Arizona,” Rodriguez said.
Right now, Mi Familia Vota is at the stage of going out and canvassing, which means knocking on doors around the Phoenix area and informing citizens on the different voting methods and how important it is to fulfill a citizen’s right to vote.
Rhett Price is a canvasser for Mi Familia Vota.
“[The organization] help[s] the community in a really positive way,” he said. “They help groups who aren’t usually contacted by a lot of other people, especially in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods.”
When canvassing, Mi Familia Vota volunteers see defeat in many of the people they poll. They see empty promises made by politicians which unmotivates them to go out and vote.
“I often see people’s disinterest when I’m canvassing and I tell them well if you don’t go out and vote then you’re going to keep letting the same proposals that you don’t agree with be carried out,” Santos said.
Arizona has had over 63,000 citizens become naturalized from 2016 to 2020, according to National Partnership for New Americans. This brings new citizens that could potentially sway the November election.
When it comes to decisions that could negatively impact their family, many Latinos know that the best way to counteract them is by their vote.
“Some people that have never had to work for that U.S. citizenship,” Rodriguez said. “They don’t understand the responsibilities that comes with being an American and I think immigrants that become U.S. citizens, we understand that responsibility because we know what it costs us.”
Contact the reporter at cristinaroblesruiz03@gmail.com
