El Tecolote Vol. 50 Issue 23

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FREE//GRATUITO

PUBLISHED BY ACCIÓN LATINA

Vol. 50 No. 23

November 19-December 2, 2020

Editor’s note: the following story is not a direct translation to the Spanish version, but rather its own independent report covering the same virtual event.

Nota del editor: La colaboración que a continuación se publica no es traducción directa de la versión contigua al inglés, sino una cobertura independiente hecha sobre el mismo evento.

VOTERS OF COLOR DELIVERED THE PRESIDENCY TO JOE BIDEN EL VOTO ÉTNICO OTORGÓ EL TRIUNFO A JOE BIDEN

Sunita Sohrabji and Pilar Marrero EMS Contributing Editors

Jenny Manrique Ethnic Media Services

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n a country that is polarized and hurt by COVID-19 and divisive leadership, a massive turnout of voters resulted in a close election where Democrat Joe Biden was pushed across the finish line by large majorities of voters of color. On Nov. 7, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the projected winners of the 2020 elections, relegating Donald Trump to a one term, even as he refused to concede, and his lawyers tried legal maneuvers to argue electoral fraud. The Democratic presidential ticket reached that goal mainly because communities of color rejected the Trump Administration by large margins, explained experts who discussed the numbers, the history, and the motivations of electoral choices by communities of color in the United States in a briefing with ethnic media. Election eve surveys and exit polling confirmed that the majority of white voters voted for President Donald Trump, but that Asian Americans, Latinx, and Black voters turned out in record numbers to oust the incumbent, and to propel the first woman of color into the White House. According to the American Election Eve Poll by Latino Decisions, 56 percent of whites voted for Trump. A CNN exit poll found a similar number, 57 percent of whites voting for the President. But voters of color were a different story. According to the LD poll, 70 percent of Latinos, 89 percent of Blacks, 68 percent of Asians and 60 percent of American Indians voted for Biden. “I want to thank people of color and communities of color for saving our democracy,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice at the Nov. 6 briefing organized by Ethnic Media Services. “Speaking as a white man, I come from a community that voted in the majority for Donald Trump. And if it were not for the African American, Latinx, and Asian American Pacific Islander Community, we would not be celebrating the victory that we’re celebrating today,” said Sharry. It was a very close election, a cliffhanger that lasted from Tuesday, Nov. 3 until Saturday morning, Nov.

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Después de cuatro días de intensa espera, la gente de todo el país se despertó el sábado 7 de noviembre con la noticia de que Joe Biden derrotó a Donald Trump en las elecciones presidenciales de 2020. Los residentes de San Francisco se reunieron en el barrio Castro para servir champán y celebrar la victoria demócrata. Following four days of intense waiting, people across the nation awoke Saturday morning, Nov. 7, to news that President-elect Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. San Francisco residents converged in the Castro to pour champagne and celebrate the Democratic victory. Photo: Benjamin Fanjoy 7, when the official numbers made it clear that Biden-Harris had clinched the 270 electoral college votes needed. That polarization and the states in which the Biden advantage played out made it clear that lopsided democratic votes by people of color had an outsize role in the results.

Stephen Nuño-Perez, a senior analyst at Latino Decisions, whose firm conducted an election eve poll of ethnic voters in key battleground states, said that “it’s extremely difficult to win an election when you have mobilized minorities and Latinos in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Albuquerque.” Latinx voters were critical in flip-

ping Arizona blue, said Nuno Perez, pointing to counties such as Maricopa, Pima, and Yuma, which all have significant Latino populations. Latinx voters also made their presence known in Florida, handing Biden victories in Miami-Dade, Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Broward See Election, page 10

a participación masiva de las latinas en las urnas en Arizona y Nevada contribuyó de manera significativa a la victoria demócrata en esos estados. El voto afroamericano fue clave en Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia y Pensilvania. Tener la capacidad de involucrar a los latinos en el proceso electoral, en bastiones decisivos que necesitan trabajo de base por meses y quizá años previo al día de votación, así como entender que no son un bloque monolítico, fueron dos de las estrategias que jugaron a favor de la victoria de Joe Biden y otros demócratas en el país. Así lo explicó Stephen Nuño-Pérez, analista senior de Latino Decisions, para quien los resultados electorales de los comicios más votados en la historia (casi 150 millones de votos equivalentes al 62% del electorado) son un momento para celebrar a las minorías. “Cuando vemos cómo el voto afroamericano impactó a Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia y Pensilvania, y cuando sabemos que es extremadamente difícil ganar una elección si no se ha movilizado a los hispanos en Phoenix, Las Vegas, Albuquerque y Los Ángeles... es imposible ignorar la importancia de estos votantes y cómo un pequeño margen en la victoria puede depender de ellos”. En una conferencia organizada por Ethnic Media Services, Nuño-Pérez aseguró que esta participación es una respuesta de los latinos a “una administración extremadamente hostil” y al impacto de la COVID-19 en sus comunidades; y que en lugares de Arizona y Nevada comenzó décadas atrás con un trabajo de filigrana en los barrios. A nivel nacional, el 70% de los latinos votó por Biden y aunque los votos electorales de Florida fueron para Trump (los cubanos son tradicionalmente republicanos), el demócrata ganó en condados como Miami-Dade y Broward y ciudades como Orlando y Tampa Bay donde vive un alto número de hispanos. Florida es un estado particular porque también es donde más inmigrantes negros viven, pero muchos hacen parte de los Vea ELECCIÓN, página 10


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