The year 2013 ushered in a scene eerily reminiscent of half a century prior: thousands of people facing difficulty voting in North Carolina. Fifty years ago, US citizens – many of whom were Black – struggled, fighting to break down racial barriers to vote in the United States. Today, after a 2013 law change, the challenges in voting are quite similar, though the North Carolina population today is much more diverse. This diversity includes a steadily growing population of Latino voters, who face unique – though equally debilitating – hurdles in trying to vote. Now, in 2016, the voting landscape isn’t just black and white. Our project on this website strives to reflect this change and paint a picture of the challenges faced by the Latino voting population in North Carolina.
Our main interview subject, Isela Gutiérrez-Gunter, has devoted her career in North Carolina to fight for voters’ rights of all races, classes, and occupations. She is the Associate Research Director of Democracy NC, a non partisan, non profit devoted to voting. In this role, Gutiérrez-Gunter is no stranger to the diverse voting population – and equally diverse range of voting issues. In the past, she co-authored two important pieces of research for the voting field: “A Snapshot of Latino Voters in NC” and “Alarm Bells from Silenced Voters”. Both pieces illustrate relevant aspects of the contemporary voting issues in North Carolina as well as the general profile of Latino Voters in this state.
Gutiérrez-Gunter talked about the new challenges with voting as a whole, before focusing on the Latino population and voting. She outlined many of the big voting struggles this community deals with, including language, transience, and last name confusion. “…so when it comes to Latino outreach and you’re talking about the Latino population it’s just super diverse.” Indeed, one of the challenges from an organizer point of view is diversity of the Latino population, both in its members’ place of origin and their assimilation capability over time.
Gutiérrez-Gunter did take time to discuss the big ticket items on many political agendas: deportation and immigration laws. Yet, she explained these policy issues as just a piece of the puzzle for Latino voters, a “bellwether” for them to judge candidates. But if these voters in particular – but all voters in general – are struggling to cast their vote in the first place, herein lies the big problem across the board. The elimination of same day registration (SDR) and out of precinct voting tends to hit transient people more, and youth and lower income people fall into this category more frequently. The Latino population, some of whose members are new to North Carolina, can also fall into this category fairly heavily and are thus affected by the new law changes.
Mike Figueras of El Pueblo was also agreed to talk to us, though on the phone. He works for an organization devoted solely to strengthening the Latino community, part of which includes its voting rights. Figueras too reiterates Gutierrez-Gunter’s idea regarding language barriers for the Latino community. He thinks that bilingual poll monitors would certainly help this population increase its voting numbers. Figueras considers it part of his job, especially as a Youth Coordinator, to convince youth that their vote is important.
Our website aims to provide information and resources for those wishing to learn more about problems facing Latino voters. We encourage you to look around, watch our interview with Isela, and peruse our links and attached resources! Welcome and Bienvenidos!
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