Immigrant advocacy organization, national nonprofit host voting simulations

Cardenas grocery store shoppers got the chance to practice casting ballots and have voting questions answered on Monday.

Event organizers from iAmerica, an immigrant advocacy organization, and Mi Familia Vota, a national nonprofit organization, are hosting voting simulations throughout August at locations that will be early voting sites come fall.

iAmerica Nevada State Coordinator Emily Zamora said there have been two simulations at the Cardenas grocery store at 4421 E. Bonanza Road. The group hopes to add at least three more events this month and add at least one location, Seafood City Market, at 3890 S. Maryland Parkway.

Because the space in the shops is donated, and the election department volunteered to help the run the events, there has been no cost to taxpayers. The goal is familiarizing people with the sites and the voting machines.

iAmerica Nevada State Coordinator Emily Zamora said that for naturalized Latino and Filipino, first-time voters, voting electronically might be unfamiliar, and can be difficult if they don’t feel confident using technology or reading English.

“Through our work, we have seen that there (are) a lot of people that are registered to vote, but don’t want to vote because the voting process is intimidating,” Zamora said. “There’s really a lack of education and that’s why we wanted to fill in the void and make sure that those two demographics are prepared on Election Day or during the early voting process.”

In 2010, there were 1,324,911 people that were of voting age in Clark County and by federal law, the Clark County Election Department is required to provide different language options, such as Spanish and Tagalog, when Census reports show that more than 5 percent of voting-age citizens speak those languages. Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria said people who speak other foreign languages can ask that somebody come into the voting booth with them to help.

Las Vegas resident Griselda Mejia, 64, said she worked hard to become a U.S. citizen and is looking forward to voting for the first time. She said the voting machine seemed intimidating at first, but added that it was helpful to use it before the voting begins.

“My fear was that I would make a mistake, but now I feel comfortable using it and know how I will vote,” Mejia said. “It’s important to me that I vote, because if I don’t, my opinion will be left behind.”

To simplify voting, Election Department representative Lorena Portillo recommends voters study and complete their sample ballot and bring it with them to the polls.

Contact Rocio Hernandez at rhernandez@reviewjournal.com or call 702-387-5208. Follow @rociohdz19 on Twitter.