Telemundo’s owned-and-operated stations are doing their part to help engage Latino voters by highlighting the importance of registering to vote.
The NBCUniversal-owned Spanish-language network is conducting voter registration drives in each of its markets with an owned-and-operated station. The push is part of its #YODECIDO initiative, designed to inform, empower and engage Hispanic voters ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
As part of Telemundo’s efforts, Colombian-born network personality Ximena Duque (Dueños del Paraíso), currently the girlfriend of srecording artist Carlos Ponce, showed viewers how to register Jan. 22 during a live segment on morning news show Un Nuevo Día.
“We are very excited that Ximena is sharing this important milestone in her life with our viewers to help raise awareness about the importance of becoming an active participant in this year’s elections,” Raquel “Rocky” Egusquiza, vice president of community affairs at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, said. “We encourage all of our communities – particularly those in California, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Nevada and Colorado, which have more than 6 million eligible unregistered voters – to participate in their local voter-registration drive so they can be fully engaged and help elect the leaders that will represent them, including the next president of the United States.”
KVEA in Los Angeles hosted Telemundo’s first local registration drive on Jan. 31 during its 12th annual Prevenir es Vivir health and wellness fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
“All of our stations are deeply-rooted in the communities they serve and this hyper-local effort, which combines best-in-class national and local election coverage with community-driven voter registration drives, will help all of our communities get the information they need so they can be active participants in this year’s elections,” Manuel Martinez, president of Telemundo Station Group, said in a statement. “Our local voter registration drives coupled with our citizenship app — Examen De La Ciudadania — which helps viewers study for their U.S. citizenship exam, are important tools that our communities can use to empower themselves so they can make the important decisions they need to open doors of opportunities for themselves and their families.”
In 2016, more than 28 million Hispanics, representing 13% of all eligible U.S. voters, will be eligible to vote. However, Hispanics remain underrepresented in most national elections, with lower turnout rates than other minority groups in most elections.
