Catholics work for higher vote turn out in El Paso.
I think some active voters don't realize what a large hurdle that voting can appear to be, from the viewpoint of someone who's never done it before. These Catholics in El Paso are trying to help people over the hurdle.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/midterms-loom-catholics-push-higher-voter-turnout-el-paso
Mariah joked that she should ask to remain anonymous, because she was embarrassed by the admission she was about to make: "I've never voted before."
Speaking during a young adult group meeting at St. Mark Catholic Church in El Paso, Texas, Sept. 18, Mariah explained that she had come from a household where the attitude was "Why vote?"
"It's crazy how much I want to vote now," she said, remembering that when President Donald Trump was elected, she had felt that "a nightmare was about to start." Hearing about immigrant families being "torn apart" is even worse, she added, choking back tears. "I feel like I'm primarily responsible because I've done nothing to stop it."
Mariah, who like other members of the group only identified herself by her first name, was addressing 25-30 young Latino Catholics, all of them bilingual, most of them citizens and the vast majority of those eligible planning to vote in the upcoming midterm election.
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Richard Pineda, a professor of communication at the University of Texas at El Paso, said that even aside from learning about candidates and issues, people may not know basics about where or when to vote or be prepared to handle problems that might arise at the polls. "That kind of stuff is really important because I think voters have to feel that they have agency and they're empowered," he said.
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"These are issues that we don't need to educate our community about," said Cemelli de Aztlán, who does community building with grassroots organizations as a network weaver for the Equal Voice Network, which produced the game. "They know that la migra [border patrol] affects their neighborhoods. They know that [copper mining company] ASARCO poisoned their community. They know if you're a domestic worker you're getting shafted.
