More Hispanics voted in 2020 than in 2016. Foto: Diariolibre.com
By Isaac Cohen*
In the middle of the pandemic, the US 2020 election registered the largest increase in voting between presidential elections on record. On April 29, Census Bureau economist Jacob Fabina wrote, 17 million more people voted in 2020 than in 2016, a 5 percent increase, from 62 percent of all citizens in 2016 to 67 percent in 2020. Also, higher turnout was registered among all race groups, with the largest increase, of 10 percent, among non-Hispanic Asians and lowest, of 3 percent, among non-Hispanic Blacks. For Hispanics, as for non-Hispanic Whites, the increase in voter turnout was 6 percent.
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/04/record-high-turnout-in-2020-general-election.html
For the first time in 2020, Hispanics reached 11 percent of all voters, better than 9 percent in 2016, but still less than 12 percent of non-Hispanic Black voters. Even so, Hispanics registered the lowest voter turnout of 54 percent among all minorities. Out of a total of 42.4 million Hispanics who were 18 years and older in 2020, 30 million (72 percent) were citizens, but only 18.7 million (61 percent) were registered to vote, and out of those 16.4 million (87 percent) voted.
Therefore, the lowest voter turnout of Hispanics is explained by the fact that around one third of all Hispanic citizens 18 years and older are not registered to vote. This means almost half (46 percent) of Hispanic citizens of voting age did not vote in the last 2020 election.
*International analyst and consultant, former Director ECLAC Washington. Commentator on economic and financial issues for CNN en Español TV and radio, UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO and other media.
