In a swing state like Nevada, every vote will matter in the upcoming presidential election. Latino voters make up nearly one-third of the state’s population and can play a critical role in determining who takes the White House.
The latest numbers show the majority of Latino voters in Nevada are registered as non-partisan, a key group President Biden and former President Trump will try to win over.
“Nosotros somos la voz para nuestro futuro. It is so important that we all go out to vote not only this primary, but this upcoming election in November,” said first-time voter Elisa Martinez.
This year will be Martinez’s first-time voting, but she’s no stranger to the process. Martinez has been involved with political campaigns since she was a child.
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“It made me feel like I should take that initiative to always spread the word, so at 12-years-old, I was always telling my family let’s go vote. I’d tell my dad, hey let’s go do this on Election Day, early voting started,” said Martinez.
In the last presidential election, the Latino vote was closer between Biden and Trump compared nationally. For Latinos, there are some issues top of mind right now.
“Number one, immigration. As a daughter of immigrants, coming from a family of immigrants, I feel that I want to make sure my family is safe and treated with respect. Education is definitely another big issue for me,” said Martinez.
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“Issues that are really pressing to me are immigration reform, especially because I grew up in a community where there’s a bunch of undocumented people, and to me that matters…and healthcare, growing up, my dad was diabetic and undocumented, so it’s really difficult and in order to afford his medicine which involves two different types of insulin and three different types of pills in order to control his blood sugar,” said another first-time voter Jiromi Pena.
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Jiromi Pena also has experience with political campaigns. She says it’s important young voters educate themselves on the candidates.
“A lot of them don’t know who to vote for, but once you reach out to them and give them the information, then they kind of know what decision to make based off of the experiences they’ve had previously,” said Pena.
Most of the young Latino voters in Nevada are not tied to a party, compared to older voters who are more consistent and reliable voters, according to Vote Nevada, a nonprofit focused on voting education.
“That’s where our nonpartisan voter registration shot up. If you look at voters 18-34, 61% of them are registered nonpartisan, independent,” said Vote Nevada CEO Sondra Cosgrove.
Vote Nevada says there needs to be more education surrounding voting, especially catering toward the younger voters so that their voices do not go unheard.
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