CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Influencers are helping encourage Latino voters to register and vote next month.
It’s part of a campaign called “Latino tu voto cuenta” or Latino your vote counts.
Chefs, journalists and other personalities within the Hispanic community with five million followers combined are joining this nonpartisan push.
Camila Fernandez and her husband participated in the first video released as part of this effort along with Chef Edwin Cruz.
They encouraged Latinos to register to vote and shared the video on their social media platforms.
“For me, it’s important, to invite the Latino community to register to vote because they can make a difference for those who can’t vote,” Fernandez said.
Her husband had a similar perspective.
“The message is clear ‘Latino tu voto cuenta.’ We need to come here and make our vote count,” he said.
Camila Fernandez is a digital creator.
“My focus is showing people how a Latina lives in the United States and teach people they can achieve things like I have,” Fernandez said.
Her husband is a Charlotte FC super fan known as La Muerte CLT. He wears a skull mask and a mariachi costume to soccer matches. He wanted to be indentified by his persona name.
“I don’t forget where I’m from. I’m from Mexico. I love my traditions. and I want to bring them to the city,” he said.
Both of them proudly share soccer content to their platforms. On Saturday, Spectrum News 1 spoke with them before they recorded a music video with Charlotte FC supporters at a supporter tailgate.
The song by El Ferrari Maciel named both of them.
North Carolina’s Latino population increased by 40% between 2010 to 2020. Currently, there are 317,439 registered voters in North Carolina and 134,568 voted in the general election in 2020. Back then, it was a 59% voter turnout.
To put that into perspective, in that same election, former President Donald Trump won our state by less than 100,000 votes, a tight margin by statewide standards.
Therefore, this is a key demographic to get to the polls for any candidate.
The Latino tu voto cuenta campaign focuses on increasing Latino turnout to give people a voice.
The effort involving influencers is part of this larger effort.
“It’s different backgrounds, different ages, making sure we reach out to a lot of people,” Mateo Pascual said.
Telemundo Charlotte Anchor and Managing Editor Daniel Viotto and the Latino Civic Engagement Committee are behind this idea.
“We have so many younger Latinos that can be registered to vote, and they don’t participate. We want to use their own language and their own channels to make sure that they have the information, the encouragement and they go and vote,” Latino Civic Engagement Committee’s Wendy Mateo Pascual said.
The last day to register for the November 5 election is Friday.
Two more videos will be released as part of this campaign before Election Day, featuring other influencers.
The next one will encourage Latinos to participate in early voting starting Oct. 17, and the final one will motivate people to vote Nov. 5.
