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Nov. 8 will be a big day for me. After 21 years in the United States, I was called for my oath ceremony for U.S. citizenship in September, just in time to register and vote for the first time. I studied, prepared, and waited years for this moment to arrive. Voting in any election is a privilege that shapes the place you call home. Millions of new citizens and Latinos have a duty to vote in this election and every election. Voting is essential to protecting our children's health, our planet, and all of our rights.
I came to the U.S. from Bolivia with my mother and brother as a recent college graduate, excited about the prospect of better educational and career opportunities. Since I had to wait two decades to become eligible to vote, it always frustrated me to see people who had the right to vote and not use it. About 80 million people who were eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election stayed home. My mother, who has never missed an election since becoming a citizen, braved the pandemic to cast her ballot in person that year. Her passion for being an active citizen is an inspiration to me.
We need to know our power and use it. Close to 5.2 million people have become naturalized citizens since 2016. According to a recent study from July, we represent a formidable potential voting bloc, with the power to decide elections in swing states like Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Florida. And, with 1 million Latinos turning 18 this year and every year for the next 20 years, we are the fastest growing group in the country. But we need to get ourselves to the polls.
In 2020, for the first time, over half of eligible Latinos voted. This was a historic turnout, but Latino voting rates continued to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, African Americans, and Asian Americans.
Voting is one of the most effective ways to make our voices heard on the issues that matter to our families and to bring changes to our communities. Many Latina moms are concerned about the environment and know that clean water, soil, and air are not evenly distributed. Latino children are 60 percent more at risk than their white peers of having asthma attacks made worse by air pollution. Latinos make up about one in four workers in the construction and agricultural sectors, outdoor jobs that make them vulnerable to excessive heat and heat-related illnesses. As climate change worsens air quality and creates extreme weather conditions, Latinos and other people of color will be hit the hardest.
We must build our political power to advocate for the services we need and to be treated fairly. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, people in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods said that help hasn't arrived, while wealthier and whiter parts of Florida received a quicker response. Past experience shows that such disparities are real. A report by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission found that people of lower wealth, people with disabilities, and Black and Latino communities were not well served by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. One of the failures was language access, a chronic problem that becomes worse during a crisis. After Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the commission's report said that FEMA did not have enough Spanish-speaking staff members.
Whether we were born in this country or became citizens through the naturalization process, we are all Americans. Voting is a right, a privilege, and a civic duty. Yet too many give up this right and let others make decisions for us. Don't give away your power this election year or any year. Our children are counting on us to protect their health, the planet, and their futures.
Carolina Peña-Alarcón is the program manager of EcoMadres, a national community of parents and caregivers acting together to protect the health of Latino families from air pollution and climate change. EcoMadres is a program of Moms Clean Air Force.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
