MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — “It's important to also have the resources for anybody to really be reached,” said Primitivo Torres, Welcome Center Director, Voces de la Frontera.
During Tuesday's Spring Primary, we spoke to voters who told us one of the reasons turnout may have been low on Milwaukee's south side was a lack of marketing about the election in Spanish.
Specifically, one voter told us he didn't see much information about the MPS referendum in Spanish in neighborhoods where a large number of the residents are Latino.
We set out to get answers, starting with Voces de la Frontera, one of the groups that canvassed and campaigned in favor of the referendum.
They tell me they did make an effort to make sure they reached all voters.
“We have a community which is multilingual, bilingual, trilingual and it’s important to have the right resources to reach these voters and have them understand the importance of voting,” said Laisha Ibarra, Milwaukee Youth Organizer, Voces de la Frontera.
One way they did that was through youth organizing.
“We have a couple of Spanish speakers, myself included, that spoke to people who didn't speak English; just explaining what it was and how it affected them if they had kids that were in public schools,” said Ibarra.
We wanted to hear from both sides of the conversation when it came to the MPS referendum, so we also reached out to enough is enough, the group opposed to its passing.
They say that they did have paperwork in Spanish and say that the voting results prove that.
New analysis from the Marquette Law School shows the referendum received approximately 41,600 “yes” votes compared to 39,900 “no” votes.
In the far South and Southwest sides -- home to majority Latino wards -- just over 50 percent of people voted against it.
Both groups say they did share ads and paperwork with an explanation of their efforts in Spanish.
The volunteers with Say Yes say they appreciate the feedback and plan to look at the election results and strategize how to tackle the election this fall.
“I do want to work harder towards that, just because I know how it feels to be left out of it, and these elections are important. So, we do want to hit as many people as we can to inform them about it,” said Ibarra.
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