LatinaLista — Motivating Latinos to vote in the November presidential election is gaining momentum with each new “repeal” promise by the Romney campaign.
Maybe as a way to inspire the electorate or intimidate critics, some groups are making bold predictions as to the turnout and impact of the Latino vote.
For example, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials Foundation projects:
- 12.2 million Latinos will cast ballots in Election 2012 – an increase of 26% from November 2008.
- Latinos will account for 8.7% of all voters.
- Latinos will again be a decisive force in the race to White House, in addition to statewide and local elections across the nation.
Unfortunately, if it weren’t for one small detail these projections alone should be enough to cause both political parties’ Hispanic outreach coordinators to work overtime to secure the Latino vote. But before this can be accomplished, Latinos actually have to show up at the polls.
While a lot of emphasis has been placed on voter registration drives, not a lot of thought is given to making sure people feel compelled to trek out in the elements, wait in line and cast their vote. In the last presidential election, some who had registered but didn’t vote made the usual excuses: “I didn’t know where to go;” or “I forgot.”
Well, one Latina entrepreneur wants to make sure no one forgets how important their vote is. Ivette Mayo, a Houston entrepreneur who creates her own line of Latina-themed stationery, created a special bilingual postcard for people to send to their friends and family to make sure they realize the power they wield.
“I created the Get OUT and VOTE card because I feel that this upcoming election is of the upmost importance to the Latino community,” Mayo replied in an email. “Anything that I could do to encourage the LATINO VOTER to exercise their VOTE, I will do. Even creating a postcard for people to send to friends y familia to encourage them to do their part.”
Brightly colored in red, white and blue, the festive image highlights the important message of using the power of a vote to create change, or in some cases, to prevent drastic change.
There’s no doubt that anyone who receives this postcard won’t forget how important is their vote, but there’s one more thing Mayo might want to include to drive home the message even further — the date.
That way, there really will not be any excuses.
