“I’ve always wanted to vote and help pick the president,” says Alex Salas, an 18-year-old senior at Golden Valley High School in Merced. “It means a lot to me and I’m excited to be able to pick the person that I believe should run our country.”
Salas is a member of the city’s Youth Council, a youth counterpart to the Merced City Council. He says that while he’s disappointed with the Republican win, he still believes in the importance of exercising his right to vote.
I was never fond of politics or the government, because I was under the impression that my vote didn’t matter. My grandfather used to tell me conspiracy theories about how every election was rigged. I refused to be part of a corrupt system.
Latinos are at the epicenter of the swirling, unpredictable 2016 presidential campaign. From Donald Trump’s polarizing comments about Mexican immigrants to Hilary Clinton’s recent clumsy attempt to identify with Hispanic grandmothers, Latinos are either being blamed for ruining the country or being courted as voters like never before.
While some Republicans like Donald Trump call for mass deportations, the Democratic side has taken much more favorable stances towards immigration reform.
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