A few weeks ago the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, along with other voter registration groups, decided to use Donald Trump supporters’ bizarre racism against them by leveraging the concept that #aTacoTruckOnEveryCorner was a great thing. They began the Guac The Vote campaign. The idea was to get taco truck operators to add voter registration to their normally food-only service. The movement has been spreading. On Tuesday in Texas, Mi Familia Vota (MFV), in tandem with National Voter Registration Day, sent out eight taco trucks that could also serve as voter registration spots.
This is an issue of particular urgency in Texas, which has had one of the nation’s worst voter turnout in past years, ranking second to last during the primaries, after Louisiana. When Duarte visited the Tierra Caliente truck, he got a hint of why: While most white and black patrons said they were already registered, many in the Latino community weren’t. Some took forms for themselves, others lacked citizenship but grabbed one for a family member. And still others simply claimed they just weren’t going to vote this year—“believe it or not,” he says.
The staff at MFV has been training owners on how to engage their customers. And while the organization can’t send volunteers to every site, Duarte says they try to stop by a few trucks during peak hours to answer questions about the voting process. “Even if not everybody who comes needs to be registered, or is eligible, the conversation that civic engagement is so important is also part of our message,” he says.
I’m sure the food was delicious too.
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