TRUCHA: Unlock Your Power in the Valley Through Your Vote

STORY BY NINA ALEGRE, EDITED BY ABIGAIL VELA, TRUCHA — OCTOBER 15, 2024

Voting in the United States is vital for many reasons. HeadCount, an organization that registers people to vote and become interested in democracy through pop culture, lists some important reasons for voting: having a voice in decision-making, influencing policies and laws, holding leaders accountable, reflecting the will of the people, honoring the struggle of suffrage and fostering civic engagement. If you don’t believe your vote matters, hopefully, this article can help change your perspective and allow you to vote for whichever party or political candidate you want!

It’s also a good reminder that for so many years, major news organizations that report on politics show us how politicians have fought for the votes of various people of color, such as Black, Latine, Asian and Native American voters. With the careful analysis of the Presidential Election of 2020, amidst the pandemic, we can see that “communities of color represent 40% of the population and many lean Democratic,” which is why these politicians work strategically to make plans that would influence people of color to be more likely to vote for them.

In 2024, it is estimated that in the swing state of Pennsylvania, the ethnic group that could change things up during this presidential election is Latines. Research done by the Pew Research Center shows that “Latinos have grown at the second-fastest rate of any major racial and ethnic group in the U.S. electorate since the last presidential election. An estimated 36.2 million are eligible to vote this year, up from 32.3 million in 2020. This represents 50% of the total growth in eligible voters during this time.”

Although Texas is a big state and Latine people make up about 8.3% of the state’s population, there are a lot of people who prefer not to vote and just aren’t interested in it. Within our region, there are people such as Edith Cuevas (she/her/ella), who works for Bloom Rio Grande Valley, a non-partisan civic engagement organization that seeks to help harness the power of RGV youth through voter registration, education and turnout, and Vicente Martinez, Jr. (he/him/el), who works for VoteRiders, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that focuses on making sure that all citizens can exercise their freedom to vote.