Voting rights organizers are hitting the ground across the Imperial Valley in a final push to get more people to cast their ballots ahead of the fast-approaching November election.
In El Centro, voting advocates went door-to-door, dropping off flyers and registration information. In Holtville and Calexico, teams of volunteers set up information tables and held presentations with student leaders at various high schools.
Despite the urgency around the presidential election, their focus isn’t on the national campaign. Voters in the valley lean Democratic and have little chance of tipping the balance of deep-blue California in the race for the White House.
Instead, these organizers are fighting a different battle: to get more people in Imperial County to actually cast their ballots.
For decades, Imperial County has trailed most other California counties in voter turnout. The county came in dead last during this year’s primary election, with just over 18% of eligible voters casting their ballots, according to state voting records.
Now a coalition of grassroots organizers are making a wide-reaching effort to change that. Their goal is to get hundreds more voters registered by Election Day and to energize more people — especially younger voters — about the process.
The effort is being led by the ACLU’s Imperial Valley team. Advocates are certainly hoping to boost turnout this November, but their focus is also on the valley’s future.
“I think that a lot of people in the valley, perhaps, see the same people that are running and might not feel connected to some of the priorities that they have,” said Crystal Quezada, the ACLU’s Imperial Valley director. “The way that we make that happen is by having our people vote. Having them have their voices heard.”
A legacy of voter suppression
The question of why so few people vote in the Imperial Valley doesn’t have a straightforward answer. There has been little research on voting patterns in the region, one of the poorest counties in California.
But organizers and historians say enduring poverty, a lack of trust in the local democratic process and the concentration of land and wealth in the hands of a small group of people have all played a role.
The valley’s history of voter suppression is one factor. That’s according to Benny Andrés, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte and author of the book “Power and Control in the Imperial Valley,”
In the early 1900s, as new immigrants from Mexico and Asia and Black Americans from southern states began moving to the valley, Andrés said wealthy white farmers used anti-democratic tactics like residency requirements to bar many new residents from registering to vote.
In later decades, Mexican Americans and other communities of color were discouraged from taking part in the civic process. Even today, some cities still do not translate major public documents into Spanish.
That has left a lasting impact on the culture of voting in Imperial County. Latino residents are far less likely to cast their ballots than white residents today. And Andrés said much of the county’s wealth remains in the hands of a small group of landowners.
“People don't think that much is going to change,” he said. “And so a lot of people are apathetic because it’s like, ‘why bother?’”
The result is that, for decades, local elections have been decided by a small fraction of voters. Those elections range from local races for school district and city council to regional campaigns for the influential boards that oversee the county government and Imperial Irrigation District, the valley’s powerful water and energy agency.
Low turnout, but rising registration
For years, voting rights organizers have been working to push back against that legacy.
Kamika Mitchell, an organizer for the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee, still remembers first signing up to vote in high school. It was at Willie’s Donuts, then an institution for the students of Southwest High in El Centro.
Voting advocates had set up a table at the restaurant and asked Mitchell and her friends if they wanted to register. Before then, Mitchell said she hadn’t really thought too much about politics. But being asked to register was exciting. One year later, she voted for the first time.
“I can't remember who I voted for or what it was, but I remember voting,” she said, laughing.
Mitchell went on to serve as a county poll worker and inspector for years.
Despite the challenges to voting that Andrés describes, state elections data do show some signs of slow change.
The number of people registered to vote has been climbing steadily over the last two decades. As of this September, 78% of eligible Imperial County residents have registered to vote — almost on par with the statewide registration rate of 82%.
Turnout during presidential elections has also been climbing. The 2020 presidential election saw 57,000 Imperial County voters turn out, the highest number in any election in the last two decades.
Still the number of people actually casting their ballots has remained low overall, especially during local or state-only elections.
Organizers are hoping to see continued increasing turnout this November. They agree that the fast-approaching presidential election is incredibly important and are urging voters to cast their ballots.
But their focus is also on the future, beyond the 2024 election.
“(People ask), ‘why vote for that person when they're not going to make that change?’” Mitchell said. “Not realizing that these are years of laws and regulations and policies that, in a four-year time, cannot be changed all in one setting.”
A renewed effort this year
On a warm evening last week, Mitchell, Quezada with the ACLU, and more than a dozen other organizers set up a row of tables at a backyard event space in El Centro.
They were getting ready for a voting registration drive that, in some ways, felt more like a party. There were tacos and painting activities. A DJ played lively music in the background. High winds had been stirring up dust storms across the valley all day, but the skies had cleared and the sun was setting.
That upbeat atmosphere was intentional. Organizers wanted everyone to be excited about being there and energized about casting their ballots. But they also had some serious goals for the evening — their final push to get more people signed up as the November election approaches.
To Quezada, their efforts around voting this year feel different. She thinks there is more local energy around this election. It’s also the first time that the ACLU’s Imperial Valley team has been coordinating their efforts and sharing resources with partners like the Social Justice Committee.
“I feel that now, there has been a lot of emerging efforts and also newer organizations that see the need to educate our community about the importance of voting,” Quezada said. “There's definitely, I feel, more momentum.”
Their campaign to get out the vote has been largely nonpartisan, although Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have both endorsed some measures and candidates this year. Planned Parenthood volunteers who dropped off voting information in some neighborhoods also included leaflets weighing in on some specific local races.
Each group is also making its own case to potential voters.
William Cooper, director of the Becoming Project, is appealing to high schoolers in Calipatria and other cities.
Because local voting rates are so low, Cooper points out, each person’s vote is incredibly powerful in the valley’s smaller towns. In Calipatria’s last local election four years ago, two of the sitting city councilmembers won with fewer than 500 votes each.
“That’s why we believe that the youth engagement and involvement is so important,” Cooper said. “Any high school graduating class can tip an election.”
Mitchell and the Social Justice Committee team have also been focusing on high schoolers in El Centro and Calexico, setting up information tables and holding presentations. She said the younger generation is the future of the valley.
“They're going to definitely be a completely different change in the next five to 10 years,” she said. “And we want to be able to prepare them for that.”
Quezada is also thinking about the future, partly for personal reasons.
When she was young, she had felt like she had to leave the valley to pursue a career. She moved to Sacramento for college and worked in the state legislature for a decade before eventually moving back to raise her family.
Quezada hopes that, if more people vote, it will strengthen the regional economy, local schools and other institutions.
“My hope is that my kids don't have to move out of Imperial County to pursue an education the same way that I did,” she said. “The way that we make that happen is by having our people vote.”
Back in El Centro, the evening was winding down, but the mood remained upbeat.
Crystal Quezada’s cousin Vanessa Quezada, a teacher in the city of Imperial, was enjoying the event. She was already registered to vote, but was glad to see more conversations happening around the significance of voting.
“As the grown ups or the older generations, we need to maybe talk more about it — about the importance,” she said. “It is your right to vote, but it’s also your responsibility.”
She said we should all be having more conversations about the beauty — and, maybe, the luxury — of living in a democracy.
The deadline has passed to register online, but California voters can still register to vote on Election Day if you go in-person to a local polling place, vote center or county elections office. You can learn more here.
