Ford School hosts event discussing Latinx voters

About 30 University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor community members gathered in Weill Hall Tuesday afternoon for a conversation on the role of Latine voters in the upcoming presidential election. The event was hosted by the Ford School of Public Policy and co-sponsored by the Latina/o Studies Program.

The number of eligible Hispanic voters has increased significantly in recent years, while the margin between Latinos voting for Democratic and Republican candidates has narrowed.The percentage of Hispanic voters who voted for Donald Trump, for example, increased from 28% to 36% between the 2016 and 2020 elections. 

Mara Ostfeld, research director for U-M Center for Racial Justice, began the talk by describing the importance of Latine voters in the U.S. electorate.

“Latinos are a growing share of the U.S. population and a growing share of the U.S. electorate,” Ostfeld said. “There are about 50% of Latinos that are not yet eligible voters, some of whom are not naturalized citizens, yet most of whom are just too young to vote. They’re much more heavily represented in the lower age groups, especially in the 18 to 29 age groups, than the rest of the U.S.”

Ostfeld then talked about the recent increase in Latine voter turnout and said the overall younger age of the Latine electorate results in lower voter turnout rates than other demographic groups.

“Latinos have tended to turn out to vote at lower rates than other sets of the electorate,” Ostfeld said. “Turnout did increase in 2020 among Latinos, that was actually a record high, according to recent data, with 54% of the Latino electorate showing up to vote. …Our electorate is younger, so younger voters overall tend to turn out at a lower rate. Latinos have a larger share of the electorate that’s young, of course our overall turnout is going to look a little bit different.”

Political consultant Chuck Rocha spoke at the event and reiterated Ostfeld’s statements about the importance of the Latine vote in the outcome of the upcoming election.

“You just drop a couple percentages, just the tiniest percentage, and this could be the difference in the election, because it’s just so close,” Rocha said. “It’s more complicated. News cycles want this to be black and white and be this easy answer. It’s not just an easy answer, but this is how Latinos are going to be the deciding factor in the presidential election.”

LSA freshman Arhianna Stokes, who will be a first-time voter this election, said in an interview with The Michigan Daily that the event taught her about the importance of her vote at the event. 

“I’m newly 18 so it’s my first year voting,” Stokes said. “I also identify as Latino. My family’s Panamanian, so I guess I just wanted some more information and I thought it would be really interesting. One main takeaway was I learned how important the Latino vote is and how much importance it has in swing states.”

Daily Staff Reporter Ellen Drejza can be reached at edrejza@umich.edu. 

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