Mi Familia Vota says prospects are facing increasing harassment

PHOENIX – A nonprofit organization working to mobilize Latino voters says its candidates are facing more intimidation than in previous elections.

Mi Familia Vota is knocking on doors in Arizona and nine other states, and the group’s CEO said his employees have experienced verbal and physical attacks and other harassment.

“We have seen people trying to exclude us from the process,” said CEO Héctor Sánchez Barba. “Our canvassers are filming. There have been some cases of physical attacks, etc.”

He blames this on the rhetoric of the anti-immigrant campaign.

“The intention is clearly to scare us,” Sánchez said. “Make us feel like we don’t belong here. Give us the feeling that democracy is not for us.”

None of the group’s employees in Arizona have been attacked, although some investigators have reported encountering armed people at their doors.

“The extreme situations are quite rare,” said Fernando Tarazon, lead researcher at Mi Familia Vota. “As far as being intimidated at the door and, you know, getting a door slammed – that’s not that unusual.”

But the group’s employees have been harassed in other ways. Tarazon said canvassers are sometimes followed.

“That’s a big problem, so we’re trying to get them out of that situation,” he said.

Mi Familia Vota has taken safety measures and trains its employees in dealing with difficult situations.

“First and foremost, stay calm,” said Tarzaon. “Stay respectful.”

Canvassers are also trained to walk away when things get too tense.

“If it gets to an extreme level, you know, thank them for the time and just move on from that,” Tarazon said.

Mi Familia Vota’s prospectors work in groups and there is always a team leader nearby if anyone needs help. The group also has a system that tracks all its employees in the field.

“We always have their locations handy in case we see someone not moving for a while. … We don’t want the worst-case scenario, but we’ll keep an eye on them where we can,” Tarazon said.

The organization’s campaigners talk to voters about their concerns, answer their questions and encourage them to vote.

“The work we do is to give the Latino community access to democracy,” Sánchez said. “It’s going door to door, being in the panaderias, just being in the spaces where our community is, and making sure they have all the resources. that they should have access to democracy.”

He said the group is also seeing misinformation in Spanish intended to disenfranchise Latino voters, such as telling people to vote the day after Election Day.

“But we’re here,” Sánchez said. “We are strong. We are getting stronger and we will not be intimidated.”

And Tarazon said that while the voters he talks to may express frustrations about politics, most encounters are positive.

“But most people are actually very friendly,” he said. “I think we are much more united than people realize.”