The Latino population of Iowa, despite making up a minority of votes, is a much-sought after demographic in the upcoming elections. To this effect, activist groups are encouraging the Latino population to participate in caucuses.
ABC News reports that LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, is making an effort to reach out to the Latino population of Iowa and encourage them to caucus. From door knocking campaigns, to hosting mock caucuses, they're trying to make some extra effort to teach them the caucus process and encourage them to vote. Latinos make up just 6 percent of the total population in Iowa, but LULAC estimates that it would net them about 70,000 potential caucus-goers. For context, around 90,000 caucus goers participated in Republican caucuses last election cycle. Because of this, LULAC said it hopes Latinos will make up at least 10 percent of the total caucus-goers when they are held on Monday.
According to Mother Jones, many Latino households have been receiving many door-knockers and robocalls, as well as letters, calling for them to participate in the presidential caucuses. Both political parties campaigning for the presidential elections are trying to secure the voting block, despite making up only 6 percent of the Iowa population. Joe Henry, board member of LULAC and spearhead of the effort, says "I think you're going to see a little history here." The Latino population of Iowa is small, but an overwhelmingly large portion of it are youth. Thus, many of the LULAC efforts are centered on teaching participants about the election process and how caucuses work.
ABC News explains that Iowa has always been able to consistently predict the party nominee for the Democrat Party, and occasionally the winner, of the elections in past electoral cycles. And seeing as the Iowa caucuses are always the first major event during elections, many are trying to secure the votes in the state, since it would most likely set the trend and influence the votes from the other states.
The electoral caucuses will begin on Monday night, February 1 2016. If the movement is successful, Henry, with LULAC's help, plans to expand the project to other states.
