Latino group launches $10M campaign to boost voter turnout

PHOENIX (AP) — A national organization is announcing a $10 million campaign to turn out Hispanic voters in several of this year's battleground states.

Mi Familia Vota, based in Phoenix, said it will spend $7 million on get-out-the-vote measures and an additional $3 million on digital and television ads, starting in Arizona and Florida.

Arizona in particular is seen as a battleground because of shifting demographics in the traditionally Republican state. Hispanics are a growing proportion of the electorate.

The campaign comes amid rising concerns about Latino turnout in a year when that community has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus. Latinos account for higher rates of infection from COVID-19 when compared to their share of the population in a number of states, and many are struggling financially from lost jobs and lower wages.

“Basically what we’re saying is we’re not going to wait for political parties to do it themselves. They don’t invest in our communities,” said the group's executive director and CEO, Hector Sanchez Barba.

According to the Pew Research Center, 13.3% of eligible voters in the U.S. this year are Latino, a record high. Pew projects that in Arizona, 24% of eligible voters this year are Latino, up 2 percentage points from 2016. In Florida, Latinos are projected to be 20% of eligible voters.

That doesn’t mean they will all register or cast ballots on Election Day. U.S. Census data shows that 47% of eligible Hispanic voters in Arizona cast a ballot in 2016, compared to nearly 63% of eligible white voters.

Mi Familia Vota aims to get 3.3 million more Latinos in its targeted states to vote.

Latino turnout in states such as Arizona could help decide the presidential election, said Matt A. Barreto, co-founder and managing partner...