NEW YORK CITY – Voto Latino teamed up with 400 organizations throughout the nation in an effort to register Latino voters as part of its Hispanic Heritage Month of Action social media campaign. NYC Votes and Dominicanos USA are some of the organizations that joined Voto Latino on Thursday Sept. 15 in Corona Plaza to push young Latinos to practice their right to vote.

“I think it’s a right that a lot of people in our past have fought for in this country and other places and we should use it,” Katherina Opazo, street team member for NYC Votes, told Latin Post. “A lot of people are struggling. Getting out there to vote says ‘I’m an American and I’m using my right to get to where I need to be.’”

Opazo, a 24-year-old college student with a Colombian and Chilean background, says she sees a lot of her peers comment on social media about the injustices of this world, but taking action is the only way they can make a change.

“You can comment on Facebook all you want,” she said. “But until you get out there and vote, your concerns will go unnoticed.”

Working with the NYC Votes division of New York City Campaign Finance Board is just one way that Opazo reaches out to her community. Engaging her peers on social media is another.

“We do a lot of work on social media because that is where a lot of the Latino millennials are,” Voto Latino Director of Development Maria Samaniego said.


The organization started a social media campaign with the hash tag #HHMA for Hispanic Heritage Month of Action where they ask for people to spread the word about voter registration and to use a Facebook profile picture filter promoting the historical month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

“Not only do we ask people to get out there and vote, we also do leadership outreach programs because people should be involved in their communities year round, not just during election season,” Samaniego said.

Voto Latino launched the Voter Pal App that makes it faster and easier when registering to vote in hopes of getting more millennials involved.

Voto Latino Nationwide

The organization launched #HHMA with voter drives in other parts of the U.S. as well. Sept. 15 started with voter registration drives in Los Angeles, CA, Las Vegas, NV, Chicago, IL, Phoenix, AZ, Fresno, CA and Orlando, TX.

Voto Latino will end Hispanic Heritage Month with a Power Summit Conference in L.A. on Saturday Oct. 15.