As the midterm elections approach, there are concerns about whether Latino voters will turn out as much as they have in past elections.

In New York, 12% of voters in the 2020 General Election were Latino, up from 10% in 2018, according to a poll by Univision, including a lot of new and young voters.

Ameer Patel, vice president of programs for the group Voto Latino, pointed out with such divisive issues as abortion access, gun restrictions, the economy and democracy's integrity on the ballot this November, he hopes the stage is set for an even bigger turnout.

"We saw a surge of young Latinos vote for the first time in 2020 as well as 2018," Patel recounted. "One of our core emphases here, this cycle, is making sure the surge of voters that came out in 2018 and 2020 become repeat voters, and they vote again this election cycle."

Patel noted low voter turnout is often the result of a lack of information about the policies and proposals on the ballot. According to a Voto Latino poll, only 21% of those surveyed had heard of President Joe Biden's infrastructure bill. He added Voto Latino has been focused on getting more people registered to vote and explaining how every vote matters.

As plenty of states have changed their voting regulations, one challenge is making sure people know how voting is done in their state. Patel explained another hurdle in the upcoming election has been what he calls "voter depression."

"You have these negative actors talking about how voting doesn't matter, how neither politician or neither party really, truly cares about you," Patel acknowledged. "On a much more grand or common level, you have people that are running for office right now, talking about how the past election was stolen."

He added the persistent lies about the 2020 election have convinced some people elections are rigged, or the voting process no longer embodies the spirit of democracy. Patel stressed his group and others are working to counter these views and encouraging people to cast their ballots.

With the election six weeks away, concern is building about attempts to intimidate voters at the polls - so, lawmakers are taking action at the state and federal levels.

On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the PEACE Act, which makes California the first state in the nation to state explicitly that openly carrying a gun in or near a polling place constitutes illegal harassment.

Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Voting Rights Program for the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice, said the measure is important.

"It represents some really commonsense principles. All voters, all election workers, should be able to participate and run our democracy free from intimidation. And visible guns around our elections are intimidating," he said.

A recent survey of election workers from the Brennan Center found that 40% report being subject to threats, abuse, or harassment.

On Wednesday, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., introduced a bill to ban open carry of firearms in polling places nationwide - noting the country has a long history of scare tactics on Election Day.

"There's individuals out there, stoked by partisan rhetoric and false narratives about election fraud, that have taken it upon themselves to either discourage at a minimum, or sometimes outright intimidate people into not letting their voice be heard in the democratic process," Padilla said.

Both political parties plan to have poll watchers present this year. The Brennan Center has set up a hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE for people to report any efforts to intimidate voters or election workers.


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Illinois voters have several ways to cast their ballot in the upcoming election, whether by mail, in person or early voting.

The Illinois Policy Institute, a political watchdog, reported 2022's general election produced the second-highest voter turnout in a midterm year in 25 years.

Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the Illinois State Board of Elections, wants voters to observe important deadlines for registering to vote. For unregistered voters, he advised there is still time to change their status.

"Voter registration never closes until the polls close on Election Day," Dietrich pointed out. "You can get registered from now right up through and even on November 5th. The online voter registration stays open until 11:59 pm, October 20th."

Voter inquiries can be answered through an online portal on the board's website, elections.il.gov.

Beginning Oct. 9, unregistered voters wanting in-person voting can do so at any early voting location. Dietrich added they will have to cast their early vote ballot at the time of registration.

Two forms of verifiable identification are needed, one which reflects who you are and the other, your voting residence. If you have recently moved to Illinois from another state, an unexpired out-of-state driver's license is accepted. A piece of government mail sent to your residence, a bank statement, or a pay stub with your voting residence is also sufficient.

Another popular choice among Illinoisans is to vote by mail. There was a "slight uptick of 10%," Dietrich reported, even before the pandemic in 2020. He added 2 million people tried it for the first time and deemed the process as safe, convenient and trackable.

"We and all the local election authorities really pushed voting by mail for safety reasons," Dietrich explained. "In the end, we had one-third of the total votes in 2020, cast by mail, about one-third cast early in person and one-third cast on Election Day in person."

Dietrich said in 2022, voting by mail slightly exceeded the number of voters who were voting early in person. He recommends residents wanting to cast mail-in ballots request their ballot far before the Oct. 31 deadline.

New Mexico volunteers will test the "butterfly effect" this Saturday as they perform small actions meant to produce monumental change.

Civic and nonprofit groups have enlisted volunteers to help plant food for monarch butterflies and other pollinators in the Bosque, a cottonwood forest bordering the Rio Grande. Organizers said the area's lush grass meadows and native milkweeds make it the perfect launchpad to expand pollinator habitat.

Emily Rees, Southwest restoration ecologist at the Institute for Applied Ecology, said teams will plant more than a thousand native perennial plants grown from wild-collected seeds.

"The overall project is 16 sites along a 200-mile stretch of the Rio Grande from north of Taos all the way down to Socorro," Rees outlined. "We are planting seven of those this year, and then we'll do the additional nine next year."

Rees pointed out New Mexico's 300-mile Bosque, which means "woods" or "forest" in Spanish, provides an oasis of valuable resources for animals and plants living in an otherwise arid Southwest habitat. To prepare for the event, the City of Albuquerque has been selectively removing invasive, non-native tree species in the planting area.

Monarch butterfly populations are declining in the U.S. and worldwide because of habitat loss.

Rees believes there is still a lot to learn about the Rio Grande's role in their New Mexico migration.

"It is very charismatic," Rees observed. "People really recognize monarchs but by restoring the habitat for monarchs we're also able to enhance that habitat for other pollinators as well."

Monarchs are not currently on the federal Endangered Species list but by one estimate their numbers declined in 2024 by 30% from the previous year. The Xerces Society said the overwintering population of western monarchs remains at approximately 5% of its size in the 1980s.


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