Pop-up events aim to educate and engage Latino voters in Kings and Tulare counties

With Election Day just around the corner, local organizations including Valley Voices, Loud for Tomorrow, UFW Foundation, Dolores Huerta Action Fund have kept busy with their get-out-the-vote engagement efforts throughout Kings and Tulare counties to educate and engage Latino voters.

Leading up to election day on Nov. 8, those organizations have hosted ‘Juntos Por El Valle’ pop-up events aiming to engage Latino voters in cities including Visalia, Porterville, Hanford, Avenal, Pixley, Lindsay and Richgrove.

“Juntos Por El Valle is a collaboration between multiple nonprofit organizations looking to increase voter turnout, specifically for the Latino community,” said Ruth López, executive director of Valley Voices based in Hanford.

The goal is mobilizing communities throughout the valley and encouraging Latino civic participation at the polls.

Efforts include door-to-door canvassing, phone banking and mass texting. It also features a branded bus to encourage youth and families to exercise the right to vote.

Camila Chávez, director of the Dolores Huerta Action Fund, said the action fund works closely with the Dolores Huerta Foundation and has been very active in the community, from getting people to commit to completing the 2020 Census survey to being very involved with the redistricting efforts including the mapping.

“We had a lot of success, especially on the statewide level, and then we had some success on the local level at school boards and city councils,” Chávez said.

“Kings and Tulare counties have not received as much of, you know, love and attention when it comes to increased voter outreach and education efforts that have happened in recent years,” Chávez said.

“However, we know that we are not represented when it comes to elected bodies as well as even voter turnout and engagement, and that’s what we’re really working to change,” Chávez said. “To make sure that folks understand that in order for our democracy to work, that all of us need to be fully engaged at every level.”

According to the ‘Juntos Por El Valle’ campaign, Latino voting power in Tulare and Kings County has grown exponentially.

In Tulare County there are close to 300,000 eligible voters — of those about 140,000 are Latino. Kings County has over 60,000 eligible voters, of which about 50% (around 30,000) are Latinos.

“And so, we’re hoping by holding events where people are able to interact with us, learn about what’s on their ballot, learn about the voting registration process, learning about the whole voting process that they will be more willing to attend, engage, and be willing to vote if they can,” said López during the second weekend of the ‘Viva y Vota Fest’ event in Hanford Oct. 30.

López said during one of the pop-up events, two individuals who were former felons learned about the voting registration process and “are now registered to vote because they didn’t realize they had the ability to vote.”

“We’ve held events such as ballots and brunch, ballots and burritos. So, we host these events so people can come out, learn about what’s on their ballot, learn about what it takes to get their vote counted. We talked to them about early voting, which started on October 29th and goes through November 8, and any question that they may have,” López said.

Since they have focused on educating the Latino community, López said, they have also gotten a lot of questions about how to become a U.S. citizen.

“So, we are connecting our community to those resources as well so they can become U.S. citizens,” López said.

While the campaign started this summer, López said, Valley Voices has always been committed to increasing voter engagement and civic engagement.

Early this month, the coalition held ¡GenteFest! ‘22, a get-out-the-vote-style concert and rally with performances from Fuego, Snow Tha Product, Las Cafeteras, and OmeDJ with special guest Dolores Huerta at the Visalia Fox Theatre in Visalia.

The event featured get-out-the-vote themes with the purpose of engaging Latinx audiences in the Valley to get them enthusiastic and involved in the midterm election this November.

“At that point too, we helped people register to vote, you know, talk to them about the importance of voting and how our vote together can make a large impact for our community,” she said.

There are seven early voting locations in Kings County, two of them opened 11 days before election day and the other five will open four days before election day.

The county also has 11 drop-off location boxes.

The Juntos Por El Valle! GOTV tour is part of a national project in California and New Mexico to support Latino outreach efforts that are successful here and can be successful anywhere.