Thanks for joining us.
I'm Alex Bell, and this is to the point.
Right now, we are seeing a large
police presence at an apartment complex
in the pocket area of Sacramento.
Swat crisis negotiators and Sacramento
police officers are in the area
of Shoal Shoal Court. Florin Rd.
Is now closed between Riverside Blvd.
And Gloria drive.
And police say they were
trying to stop people in a car.
And those people may be armed.
And we do have a crew on the way to
this area and we will hear from them.
A little bit later in the show,
but first to our main point tonight,
there are a lot of things
that the media gets wrong,
and one of those is the
phrase the Latino vote.
And this racial demographic holds
high influence in key races that
could change the balance of power in
the country as soon as next month.
California is home to 1/4 of all
eligible Latino voters in the US,
and tonight they tell our van to that.
Journalists and politicians
have a lot to learn
at a Spanish.
They think he's Mexican. Not really.
He could be from somewhere else.
Right. Same thing where it goes
with American Asians. You know,
they they got different cultures.
That's, that's I I just don't like
when people assume that you're from
somewhere where you're really not.
Gonzalo Gomez of Sacramento says
he's tired of being color-coded.
That's what politicians get wrong when
campaigning for the so-called Latino vote.
Gomez says Latinos in the US
come from all over Latin America,
Central America and Mexico,
with different cultures and life experiences.
In short, he says,
they're not a monolith.
And shouldn't be treated this way.
The Latino vote, the Latino population
is rapidly becoming, you know,
the the largest ethnic morality in America.
Mike Madrid is the co-founder
of the Lincoln Project and a
Republican political consultant.
He says both Republican and
Democratic parties are still
learning about the intricacies
within this racial demographic.
That makes up 34.5 million eligible voters.
That's about 14% of the US electorate.
In 2022,
the the main myth about the Latino vote
is that in order to talk to Latinos,
talk about immigration is the
way to to capture the vote.
It's really never been the case,
and it's certainly not now.
Top issues for many voters, he says,
are the economy and abortion.
But a number of campaigns still approach
Latino voters with flawed perspectives.
With abortion, you know the the the
old stereotype was that this is a
Catholic community, very pro-life.
The truth of the matter is that.
That really never been accurate. While Latino
and Hispanic voters are the fastest
growing segment of the blue Collar
working class and the largest non
white ethnic group of eligible
voters in the country,
they had the lowest turnout
rate in 2020. Madrid says.
They're the most difficult to
reach and to mobilize to vote
simply because they're younger.
When you talk about the youth vote,
oftentimes you're talking
about the Latino the median age
for eligible Latino voters is 39.
It's nine years younger than
the median age of all voters,
according to Pew Research.
Polls indicate that neither
party put enough resources
into reaching Latino voters.
For Saul Gudino Sacramento,
he says, a sense of defeat has kept
him from engaging in politics.
There was a time when he joined marches
to fight for legal pathways to
citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
We tried and we do that,
you know that, she said.
And everything. But I guess not.
Whether you're not so it's it's as
as a Latino, I could say Mexican,
we we tried but nothing happened,
he says. He understands that each vote
counts, while ultimately he feels that
lawmakers can't or won't make policies
that will benefit his community.
Now, Latinos are overrepresented in
battleground states that will sway the
majority, particularly in Nevada and Arizona.
They also make up a large share of voters
and several tight races that could decide
whether Democrats hold on to the house,
including key races in the Central Valley.
And I want to go now to your points
because I wanted to hear from you what
would make it easier for you to vote.
So we asked, and we heard from
quite a lot of you, actually.
So Nancy said, give me really good
people to vote for instead of.
The lesser of two evils.
Now, we have been out in the Community
asking you what matters this election,
and really this is a sentiment that I
have heard from just about everyone,
people who say that they are definitely
voting or even definitely not voting,
they just want trustworthy candidates,
but that's not what they feel
like they're getting, right?
Let's go to Ray,
he says make it a national holiday.
Now, there have been efforts to
make this happen in Washington, DC,
but it's a bit of a heated topic
and with the Senate and a stalemate,
I wouldn't count on that anytime soon.
OK, I'm sorry, alright.
Jordan says that employers should honor
the law that requires employees to get
time off during polling hours to vote.
California law does require employers to
give workers an opportunity to vote even
if working hours or while the polls are open.
So if this is not happening,
it's your work.
Make sure that you reach out
to the States voter hotline.
That number is 803 four five vote.
And if you have any other questions for us,
just let us know.
You can scan that QR code
right there on your screen or.
You could also go to abc10.com/politics
to see all the other questions
that we've answered.
And then there's this tonight.
Right now,
nearly 800 people in Sacramento County do
not have their voter information guides.
Take a look at your screen right now.
These were found dumped in a
trash bin in Elk Grove.
We spoke with the Sacramento
County Elections Office,
who emphasizes that no actual
ballots were thrown away and that
new guides will be mailed this week.
Now you can report any suspicious
activity to the USPS law enforcement.
Remember,
it is a federal crime to tamper
with voting documents.