Newly Registered Latinx Voters Key to Georgia Runoff Victory, Voto Latino Registered 15% of All New Georgia Voters Since General Election

Voto Latino registered 47,318 voters in Georgia in 2020-21, helping flip the state.

Washington, DC – A coalition of young, diverse voters delivered two Democratic Senate seats in Georgia, which has one of the fastest-growing Latinx populations in the country. Voto Latino, the nation’s leading Latinx voter registration outfit, registered 11,528 Georgian voters between November 30 and December 7 for the January 5 Senate runoff. Voto Latino previously registered 35,787 Georgians for the 2020 general election cycle, in which Biden won by 11,779 votes. 

“Georgians’ unprecedented turnout in a runoff election demonstrates that long term investments in community organizing are effective and that every vote does matter,” said María Teresa Kumar, president and CEO of Voto Latino. “This is Voto Latino’s third Georgia election and our wins could not have been possible without our volunteers, community partners, and the steadfast leadership of Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo of Fair Fight.” 

TargetSmart estimates that at least 74,487 Latinx voters voted early for the runoff election – 64% of the November 2020 early vote total and 180% more than the Latinx early vote total in 2016. In the midterm election of 2018, approximately 10% of Latinx voters turned out. This year, that number could be as high as 65%, exceeding all expectations and capping off a wave of Latinx voter engagement throughout the country during this election cycle. 

This special election concludes Voto Latino’s record-breaking investment in Latinx political empowerment for the 2020 cycle. After close to a decade of organizing in many of these states, a $34.2 million dollar effort, Voto Latino registered 601,330 voters in Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Florida, and mobilized 3.7 million low propensity voters to the polls. This cycle, Voto Latino’s work helped flip Arizona and Georgia, defended Nevada and Wisconsin, sent four new Senators to Washington, and turned Texas and North Carolina purple, demonstrating the overwhelming contribution Latinx voters in the South made to deliver the White House.

For the Georgia effort, Voto Latino partnered with local organizations within the state for a host of election-related activities. Voto Latino’s partners included Fair Fight, La Borinqueña, Athens AntiDiscrimination Movement (AADM), Blueprint 58 Atlanta, Georgia League of Women Voters, Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Georgia Sierra Club, Mijente, New Georgia Project, Pro Georgia, Southerners on New Ground (SONG), State Voices, Students for Tomorrow, and the Trans Queer Liberation Movement. 

Through Voto Latino’s numerous local partnerships, it co-hosted virtual text banks and organized events, such as a Fuse TV Townhall with board members Rosario Dawson and Wilmer Valderamma. VL Impact Council Co-Chair Zoe Saldana also contributed to the effort. The Georgia program included texting 95,000 young voters of color, providing media training to 33 volunteers, collaboratively sending 1,140 handwritten letters to voters, providing thousands of rides to the polls through Lyft, and uplifting the work of numerous local organizations.

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Voto Latino is a grassroots political organization focused on educating and empowering a new generation of Latinx voters, as well as creating a more robust and inclusive democracy. Through innovative digital campaigns, culturally relevant programs and authentic voices, we shepherd the Latinx community towards the full realization of its political power.