One day before the 2024 US Presidential election marathon that will change the history of the United States, nearly forty volunteers are preparing to carry out one of the last door-to-door sweeps to stir up the Latino vote among the community in Arizona, one of the seven key states in this election.
“I’m doing this for my parents, it cost them too much money to become U.S. citizens and now they can’t let us vote,” Ana Holqin, one of the volunteers from Poder Latinx, an organization dedicated to mobilizing registered voters in the decisive Maricopa County, where 31.8% of the inhabitants are Hispanic, told Media.
The strength of the Latino vote
Born in Mexico and raised in Phoenix since she was 3, Holqin has spent the past two weeks tirelessly knocking on hundreds of doors to involve people like her, Latinos whose parents migrated to the U.S. in search of a better life and whose vote can open or close rights as fundamental to the community as immigration protections.
Her six children are divided: her eldest daughter is clear about her support for former Republican President Donald Trump; her only son will vote for Democrat Kamala Harris and her youngest daughter, aged 19, will exercise her right to vote for the first time at the insistence of her mother.
“I told her: after all, it is your future that is at stake in these elections,†and that is how she managed to convince her to spend a day with her collaborating in door-to-door canvassing, where she has connected both with voters who taught her the power of the ballot box and with people who long to vote but cannot.
It doesn’t matter who, just vote.
Erick Abarca, for his part, has been promoting voter registration in Arizona, where there are just over two million Latinos, since 2016. Born and raised in Phoenix, in a Mexican-American family, he has traveled from one end of Maricopa to the other to raise awareness about the importance of voting.
On his tour of the town of Mesa, bordering Phoenix, on Monday, Abarca approached the home of a 24-year-old man to ask him if he had already cast his ballot in advance or if he had all the necessary documents to vote in person on Tuesday.
The immigration issue in the state is what worries her the most: “Many immigrants receive free care while my niece, who resides here legally, cannot receive medical care, and that is not fair,” she told Media.
On the issue of abortion, another point of inflection that divides Democrats and Republicans, she is more ambiguous: “I am not in favor of it, but everyone should decide what they believe,†she adds. In Arizona, abortion is permitted up to 15 weeks into pregnancy.
Democratic voters, between fear and hope
The day stretches for up to 12 hours, from dawn to dusk, as the key date for going to the polls approaches and although they go to up to 70 houses a day, most homes either do not open or claim to have voted by mail.
Meanwhile, an aura of fear and excitement in equal parts spreads among the volunteers as they carry out their work come rain, shine, or under the blazing sun.
This is the case of Rachely Pérez, a young volunteer who goes door-to-door, frightened by issues such as the possible victory of Trump, who has threatened a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants if he is re-elected.
Others, like Fiona Damacio, on the other hand, are showing their enthusiasm for being able to participate for the first time in such a tight election and are not giving up: she is hopeful and believes that her vote “may reflect a change” not only in Arizona but in the United States.
