Protesters in the U.S. are continuing to show up and speak out against police violence and anti-Blackness in the United States. The demonstrations have rallied groups of people together who are fed up with the status quo, and it seems they’re having an effect on political organizing as well: This week, political organizations such as Voto Latino and Rock the Vote reported that they’ve seen an uptick in voter registration numbers since people began taking to the streets.
According to CNBC, Voto Latino surpassed its June goal of registering 20,000 people in states such as Arizona and Texas. They’re on track to have 50,000 Latinos registered by the end of the week. Additionally, Voto Latino’s CEO Maria Teresa Kumar told the publication that the organization has been carrying out digital test ads to ensure Latinos know how their vote plays a role in the issues reflected during the protests.
In January of 2019, data from the Pew Research Center showed Latinos were on their way to becoming the largest ethnic group eligible to vote in 2020, projecting that there would be 32 million Latino individuals eligible to participate in the election. The demographic has been key in some swing states; Trump won 29% of the Latino vote in 2016. In a poll conducted by Telemundo in November of last year, 25 percent of Latinos say they would vote to reelect Trump. Most of the new registrations Voto Latino saw in recent days were from younger Latino voters.
A surge in voter registrations during the protest doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a direct correlation, but there have been other promising boosts in how much volunteering and financial support other organizations, such as When We All Vote, co-chaired by Michelle Obama. Carolyn DeWitt, CEO of Rock the Vote, told CNBC that the group saw the largest registrations in a single week amid the 2020 election cycle, and also noticed boosts in social media impressions.
“While we don’t necessarily have evidence right now until we dig into the motivations of registering at this moment, I think the urgency raised awareness that people believe change needs to happen,” she said.
