Mecklenburg County's fast-growing Latino population is estimated to make up 15% of residents, but they account for only 3% to 4% of voters. That didn't change in this most recent election.
Eustaquia Rodriguez, 66, lives in Peppertree Apartments off Central Avenue in east Charlotte. She moved from Puerto Rico and has voted in numerous elections, including this past November.
"For me, it's important to vote because it's another voice and one makes a difference by voting," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez was one of only five Hispanics who voted at Peppertree Apartments, a complex with nearly 300 units.
"There isn't an opportunity for people who desire to vote because they don't have the correct papers," Rodriguez said.
Peppertree Apartments is located in Precinct 5, an area in east Charlotte known as a predominantly Hispanic and Black neighborhood. However, of the nearly 2,000 people registered to vote in that precinct, only about 141 are Hispanic. In this election, 69 Hispanics from Precinct 5 voted, a turnout rate of approximately 49%.
Peppertree Apartments is one of many apartment complexes in Charlotte with a high concentration of Hispanics. However, translating numbers into political power is a challenge. Voter registration and turnout in those areas remain low.
Countywide, nearly 30,000 Hispanics voted in November, representing almost 60% of registered Hispanic voters. In North Carolina, Hispanic voter turnout was slightly lower, at about 56%. Both are well below the statewide turnout of 74%.
Fabian Valerio worked with Mecklenburg Unidos, an initiative to recruit volunteers and encourage Hispanics to vote. They courted Hispanics to vote for Democratic candidates and focused their efforts on east Charlotte, Sugar Creek, and Steele Creek.
"We chose east Charlotte because it felt like a real hub for our community and I think we weren't disappointed," Valerio said. "I think we found insanely passionate community members who live there or operated businesses from there."
More than 50,000 Hispanics are registered to vote in Mecklenburg County, with that number expected to grow each year.
Over, 80 volunteers worked with Mecklenburg Unidos in the final weeks of the election to knock on more than 8,000 doors throughout the city. However, most of their focus was on east Charlotte. Although precincts there had low Hispanic voter registration and turnout, they wanted to tap into the potential.
"I think it was really positive in the sense that we sparked something and we were able to tap into this existing passion in our communities," Valerio said.
Valerio said it was easier to reach voters in east Charlotte because of the higher density of residents, allowing them to contact more people in less time.
However, other groups focused their efforts on other parts of the city. Leonardo Scarpati of the Latino Civic Engagement Committee said his group initially concentrated on areas like east Charlotte and South Boulevard to encourage people to vote:
"We went in with our eyes and were like 'Hey, we got a bunch of Latino companies on Central Ave. and Albemarle corridor and South Blvd.,'" Scarpati said. "'Let's encourage people to go out and vote.' Those numbers did not turn out the results we wanted, and partly because we weren't reaching where registered voters were."
Scarpati said many legal residents can't vote because they are not U.S. citizens. Of the 190,000 foreign-born residents in Mecklenburg County, about 60% are not citizens.
"In the city of Charlotte, we tend to identify those as Hispanic corridors or Latino corridors where we see Latino businesses, and Latino people living, but that's not where we see the higher number of registered voters," Scarpati said.
The Latino Civic Engagement Committee identified Steele Creek, where four precincts each have close to or more than 1,000 registered Hispanic voters. They focused on precincts like those to get Latinos out to vote this election.
Valerio said there were still benefits to their organizing, even though Latino turnout didn't surge in this election. He and other organizers are eyeing the next elections: Charlotte mayor and city council races in 2025, the midterms in 2026, and, already, the 2028 presidential race.
"We're happy to see that we were able to build up such a strong 'familia' around this work, but now we got to think about which future community efforts are we going to be involved in," Valerio said.