PHOENIX — Valley residents gathered at C.O. Greenfield Academy of Design and Innovation on Wednesday for the Voto Latino Town Hall.
Community leaders and experts discussed key issues affecting the Latino community with just weeks to go until the general election.
The event hosted by 12News en Espanol and Conecta Arizona invited a group of panelists specializing in areas such as education, housing, voting and other relevant industries.
Nicole Morales, democracy director for Chispa, one of the event's panelist and said her organization strongly believes in what she refers to as a healthy environment.
"In order to have a clean and healthy environment for today and for generations to come, it is super important to ensure that we also have a strong and healthy democracy," Morales explained. "The way to do so is to ensure that our community participates in the electorate process, to ensure that our voices are heard and are considered when it comes to decision making."
Morales said there are certain obstacles that keep Latinos from voting including misinformation and disenfranchisement from the electorate process.
Morales said one vote can create a large impact on local, state and federal elections.
"We live in a state that a matter of just a couple votes dictate who is the winner on an election, Morales said. "We live in a state where one vote could be the difference between whether a proposition is passed in our state or not, and we also live in a state that's going to have a lot of decisions to make this November in the ballot."
Morales highly encourages Latinos to not only register to vote but also double check to make sure they're registered to vote.
"[We're voting for] for ourselves, we are voting for our family for our relatives, we are voting for our kids and future generations that we know will be represented," Morales said.
Adrian Fontes, Secretary of State of Arizona, was one of the panelists and said Latinos can make a large impact on community and should engage more in government.
Fontes said voting is important because "it's important we hear all voices from all communities."
"One of the things about the Latino community is I think we undersell ourselves a little bit," Fontes said. "We have a lot of capacity we have a lot to give to our community to our state and our nation and I think a little bit more participation would probably help."
Fontes said in addition to voting he encourages people to do things like go to school board meetings and talk to representatives in the legislature.
"All of this kind of participation, particularly for the Latino community, will make sure that our voices are heard and that government can be responsive," Fontes said. "We've got to take that step, though, as folks who live here, because that's going to be what's important. It's going to influence decision makers."
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