GREEN BAY (NBC26) — José Patiño became a citizen of the U.S. about ten years ago, but voted in an election for the first time Wednesday. He never realized how much of a difference his vote could make for others until this year, said Patiño.
“I feel good because I want to change a lot of things that I don’t like right now," he said. "So I don’t know what I can do about myself but everybody together, we will do it.”
Patiño is voting for Joe Biden because he wants DACA recipients to stay in the U.S., he said.
“I have family and friends that have DACA," said Patiño. "They have good jobs, they have their houses, if that’s taken away they’ll lose everything.”
Voces De La Frontera Action has been canvassing for weeks in Green Bay, getting Latinx Americans like Patiño to go out and vote. Idalia Cervantes, regional organizer, says their ultimate goal is to get people registered to vote, and help them understand the candidates.
“We tell people you know go door knock and step six feet away and talk to people and try to engage them," she said. "And ask them what’s their plan to voting. It’s a really strong community, that’s for sure. And I think we still have to do a lot of work.”
Members of the group are supporting Joe Biden, but Cervantes says they want everyone to register to vote, regardless of their beliefs.
“Our agenda is we want candidates that will support immigrant rights, support fair labor wages, that will support a lot of these issues that our members have asked us to do," she said.
Many of the Spanish-speakers in Green Bay are from Mexico. Some are afraid of going out and voting because of what they've seen, said Cervantes.
“In Latin America we see a lot of unjust voting practices, so people opt out of voting," she said. "They actually burned down the ballots and the voting houses, so people are scared. People did die in that fire.”
Patiño said this did cross his mind, but he wants the community to know his voting experience was safe and easy.
“Here in the United States, I don’t think that would happen," he said. "But I don’t know.”