So far this 2020 primary election cycle is shaping up to be an exciting one as voters have started to visit the ballot box to choose the next president of the United States.
On Saturday, Feb. 22, its Nevada’s turn. On that date the Caucus will be held giving the local Democratic Party the opportunity to help narrow down the list of candidates – to the one person who will eventually run against current President Donald Trump for the presidency.
However some voters couldn’t wait until then. This past Tuesday, Feb. 18 was the last day of early voting. CNN reported that its sources claim that approximately 70,000 people took advantage of the four-day early early voting period.
But the democratic presidential candidates don’t have it simple – they must work hard to win over Latinos in Nevada whose vote is critical to win for the whomever receives the party’s nomination in this election year.
The reason is that more than 28 percent of Nevada’s population is Latino, according to the Pew Hispanic Center and of those, 58 percent are registered as Democrats.
In Northern Nevada, there are groups that strive to help the Latino community in the electoral process because there are usually few resources to help people during elections.
Such is the case of the Latino Research Center (LRC) at the University of Nevada, Reno which focuses on helping to advance the social standing of the Latino community in the state in areas of public policy and education through research, advocacy and outreach.
J. Diego Zarazua, the research, education and community engagement coordinator at the LRC, explained that their focus this election year is to help all eligible Latino voters register to vote – regardless of their political party.
“The Latino Research Center is also working to raise awareness about the importance of registering to vote and to educate Latinos that their vote does count,” Zarazua said.
Awareness that your vote counts is a crucial element for organizers of these groups because it is often believed that the Latino population is not adequately represented in the election process. In March, the LRC will hold a forum to inform and guide the Latino community about the electoral process.
In the meanwhile, Latinos can use the friendly electoral guide created by The Nevada Independent in English and Spanish. Their tool lets you easily compare the various policies of the democratic hopefuls.
In Washoe County, the Democratic Party is also striving to include the Latino population in the 2020 Nevada Caucus. The local party secretary, Adrian Lowry, said that “this is the first year that our material for the caucus will be in Spanish and Tagalog (for the Filipino community).”
Be advised that Nevada will not be using the same application that Iowa used during the Caucus. The Nevada Democrats assure that releasing the results on Feb. 22 will be less frustrating than it was in Iowa where a an application to report the caucus results failed. –CC