HOUSTON – How important is my vote? With Election Day fast approaching, many of you may be asking that very question.
Those who’ve been tracking voter turnout for years in a predominantly Hispanic community on Houston’s east side say they’re noticing a troubling trend. Voter turnout may not be hitting the historic highs.
Perception has a lot to do with it.
“Denver Harbor is a community that’s made of families and friends. We’re a strong community,” said Carolyn Lopez, who is on a mission to strengthen her community’s voice where the vast majority of the residents are Hispanic. “The general mentality of our voters is saying, why should they vote? I believe that the community just continued to feel that they are underserved. That people weren’t hearing them.”
She’s not taking on this quest alone.
Rene Porras is pounding the pavement, reaching out to every corner of the neighborhood. Through Denver Harbor Cares, a grass-roots, non-partisan organization the pair founded, the two hope to encourage people of all ages to vote.
“To get people to be aware of our issues and what we have to do, and the first thing we have to do is vote. I’m going to go out there and knock on their door and try to put a little anger and fear into them, and hopefully, that will even motivate a couple of them to vote,” Porras said.
While there’s a persistent perception that Latino voters in this community haven’t been actively participating in the Democratic process, Hector DeLeon, with the Harris County Clerk’s Office, said a closer look at the data tells a different story.
“The data actually shows a growth in the Hispanic turnout when the Hispanic community is compelled to go out and vote. If they’re motivated to go out and vote for a reason,” DeLeon said.
In the decades worth of data he showed to KPRC 2, from 2011 to 2021, the number of Spanish surnames registered voters in the zip code that Denver Harbor is in, steadily rose from more than 6,100 to 6,800 voters. Turnout varied depending on who and or what was on the ballot. For example, the highest Spanish surname turnout was 21% in 2015 when Adrian Garcia ran for mayor.
“I always say that what we need to start doing is educating people to understand that when there’s an election year, electing folks who are going to sit around the table and determine how the taxes that you contribute at every level of government are going to be spent,” DeLeon said.
He added that aside from socioeconomic status being directly tied to Hispanic voter turnout, they also make up the youngest group of voters in Harris County.
“Fifty-five percent are comprised of millennials and Gen Zs. So, if the Hispanic vote is to increase, this group is very important to that objective,” DeLeon said.
Carolyn and Rene, who’ve seen so much in their lifetime, know the power of the vote and see it as their responsibility to pass this knowledge on to the next generation.
“We had hired some seniors, some college students, part-time colleges to help us try to get the word out. We have someone helping us with the newsletter She now has put in her name to be a precinct chair. We have another individual that’s helping us with the data. He just graduated from Yale,” Lopez said.