Alondra Lara is fired up to vote for the first time. The Cal State Fullerton freshman and art major said she intends for her ballot choices to represent not just herself, but also family members who aren’t citizens, including some undocumented immigrants.
“It’s really important for me to not only express my voice, but express my voice for those who cannot vote,” said Lara, 18, who was born and raised in Sanger, a small city in California’s Central Valley. “It’s more important than ever for people of my color, my ethnicity, to go vote right now.”
To urge other young Latino citizens to participate in the election, Lara leads a team of phone bankers at 99Rootz, a youth organizing project of the nonprofit group Power California.
Three times a week, Lara’s team connects virtually over Zoom to keep each other company while they take on the often difficult task of cold-calling thousands of registered young voters under 35 in Merced and Fresno counties. Continue reading at KQED.org.