Votamos, We Vote Coalition

Under the backdrop of a historic presidential election and the global pandemic, advocacy groups across Delaware formed the Votamos We Vote coalition.

The mission of the coalition is to engage Latinx voters in the First State and build their political power.

Delaware's Latinx community is growing significantly, particularly in the rural southern part of the state where immigrants have relocated to work in poultry factories, farms, and nurseries. With growing immigrant communities, the need for effective and collaborative advocacy on issues ranging from access to healthcare, law enforcement, and access to government services has increased exponentially. In 2020, the impact of COVID-19 was particularly hard for Latinx people. Six months into the pandemic, over 1000 poultry workers had been diagnosed with seven deaths reported. Latinx children accounted for between 47-60% of all juvenile COVID-19 infections in the state, despite only accounting for 13% of the state's population.

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• ACLU of Delaware
• DE Civil Rights Coalition
• DelACA
• Department of Elections Commissioner
• Latin American Community Center
• League of Women Voters - Delaware
• Network Delaware
• The Office of the Delaware Lt. Governor
• Unitarian Universalist Delaware Advocacy Network
• Wilmington - NAACP
• YWCA Delaware

Delaware's state government has a Democratic-controlled trifecta, but achieving progressive immigration wins in the legislature has been a challenge. While the COVID-19 pandemic exposed many of the disparities felt by the Latinx community, those injustices far predated the virus.

There was little civic engagement directed towards these communities prior to 2020 and the formation of the VOTAMOS We Vote coalition. Given the significant challenges facing Latinx people in Delaware, the coalition wished to increase their political power and seed the ground for future advocacy on critical civil liberties issues.

As part of our work in 2020, the VOTAMOS Coalition accomplished the following:

• Texted over 10,000 Latinx registered voters encouraging them to make a plan to vote, and represent their community at the ballot box.
• Canvassed community events, registered clients to vote at social service agencies, and provided literature on the importance of the 2020 elections.
• Hosted multiple virtual community and media events, where members of the coalition spoke on the importance of voting and its impact on immigration.
• Launched a weekly radio show on Spanish-speaking radio in southern Delaware, where our coalition featured the voices of undocumented immigrants to speak about the issues on the ballot that most impacted them.

During the 2022 Midterm Elections, the VOTAMOS Coalition led efforts to:

• Launch a Spanish-language voter education website, VotamosDE.org.
• Recruit bilingual (ES/EN) poll workers and work with the Department of Elections to identify polling places with high numbers of Spanish-speaking voters.
• Create and translate the 2022 Voter Guide in partnership with the Delaware Voting Rights Coalition.
• Canvass for immigrants' rights and justice reform issues in election districts with high numbers of Spanish-speaking voters
• Engage and inform Spanish-speaking voters via Spanish-language TV and radio advertising, print and digital paid media, and social media outreach.
• Highlight important voter education information and issues that impact Latinx communities in Delaware on the Entre Nosotr@s weekly radio program.

Upholding the rights and civil liberties of immigrants is important to all of us. When the government has the power to deny due process and other legal rights to one vulnerable group, everyone’s rights are at risk.

As political attacks on immigrants continue to escalate in 2023, we understand the stakes have only increased. The VOTAMOS Coalition reamains committed to pushing back against cruel anti-immigrant policies and defending the constitutionally guaranteed rights and civil liberties of every person in this country — regardless of documentation, refugee, or immigration status.

In 2023, the VOTAMOS Coalition will fight for:

• Increased Latinx particpation in the upcoming School Board elections.
• Legislation that provides medical coverage as well as other avenues for expanded protections for undocumented children.
• Policies that enact statutory protections, complete with enforcement mechanisms that prioritize transparency and accountability, against information sharing with the Department of Homeland Security.
• Mandate the presence of dedicated Spanish language employees who will be readily available to assist individuals who require services in Spanish at all state offices.
• More funding opportunities for DACA recipients, as well as avenues for DACA recipients to grow professionally.

ENTRE NOSOTR@S is the radio voice of the Delaware Hispanic population featuring the undocumented community. The program, funded by ACLU-DE, is an initiative of Votamos We Vote, a coalition of 12 organizations spearheaded by the Delaware Hispanic Commission.

ENTRE NOSOTR@S's call to action is to be the rare medium in which the Delaware undocumented community can speak authentically so the social, economic, and political context that creates "undocumentation" can be named.

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