By Jazmine Ulloa
The Voto Latino Foundation is gearing up to begin its biggest push yet to encourage Latino voters to head to the polls in November, with a star-studded cast of Latino celebrities and influencers.
The $5 million initiative, titled “Vota con Ganas,” or “Vote with Enthusiasm,” is set to start Wednesday and will feature voter-registration drives and workshops, along with a social media campaign and public service announcement-style videos from actors and online personalties that underscore the importance of casting a ballot this election. The list of stars so far includes America Ferrera, Gina Torres, Gabriel Luna, Jessica Alba, Wilmer Valderrama, DannyLux and Xochitl Gomez, among others.
Voto Latino leaders said ads and online content would be amplified by the group’s 300 partner organizations and businesses, including the NFL, Sony Music and Universal Music, and by Voto Latino chapters on 100 college campuses.
María Teresa Kumar, the foundation’s co-founder and president, described the push as “more than just a call to action,” saying in a statement, “It is a movement to harness the power of the Latino community.”
Valderrama, who produced and directed all of the campaign’s videos, described the effort as crucial to a Latino community that continues to grow and contribute to so many aspects of the United States.
“To ensure our safety, opportunity and future in this country, we have to be involved,” he said in an email. “Without our involvement, there will be a paraphrasing of our existence in this country.”
Latinos are a growing slice of the U.S. electorate: An estimated 36.2 million are eligible to vote this year, up from 32.3 million in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. But in 2020, a Pew survey found that Latinos were less likely than white or Black voters to be contacted by campaigns or organizations supporting candidates.
Latino voter outreach groups have been trying to counter dampened enthusiasm and disillusionment among young voters struggling with housing, food and education costs. And in Texas, Latino voting activists and political organizers have been raided as part of election fraud inquiries, which some of those who were targeted have said appeared to stem from efforts to curb ballot-box access. Leaders with more than two dozen Black and Latino voter outreach groups recently met with Biden administration officials to discuss the challenges, according to several participants.
The “Vota con Ganas” campaign is part of the group’s nonpartisan educational arm, and celebrities are not endorsing particular candidates, though some may later do so through their own personal channels.
In a launch video, Gomez, who plays America Chavez in the movie “Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” appears with other young Latinos, citing a statistic from 2020 census data.
“Every 30 seconds,” Gomez says, “a new Latino is eligible to vote.”
In an interview, Gomez, who turned 18 this year, said she counted herself as one of those newly eligible voters.
“So many elections are won by just a few thousand votes,” she said of why she decided to participate when Valderrama invited her. “We need to vote for candidates who care about the issues we care about.”
Comments