With roughly 27 million eligible voters to date, the Latino community is critical to the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. “For the first time in history, there’s a new rule,” Emmy award-winning journalist Jorge Ramos told HBO Latino. “No one, absolutely no one, can make it to the White House without the Hispanic vote.”
Understanding the great responsibility of “the next generation of American voters” to exercise their right to cast a ballot, founders of the Unidos app have created an all-inclusive destination for Latinos to get relevant news and voter registration details sans the anxiety.
“During the development of the app we conducted focus groups with young Latinos around the country,” Néstor David Pastor, Unidos’ managing editor, told Remezcla. “Many of them told us that one of the things preventing them from voting was the worry that they would not be able to make an educated vote. So we decided that providing a feed of news about the election and related topics would help people feel more confident when they enter the voting booth.”
The app, an initiative of award-winning site Feet In 2 Worlds, is great for first-time and seasoned voters alike, guiding users through hurdles they may encounter during the electoral process. Coupled with its “public service journalism” feed, the ultimate goal of Unidos is to boost interest in the presidential race so Latino voices are heard.
“Our goals are pretty straightforward,” Pastor continued. “We want users to register, vote, and stay informed. More broadly, we want people to use the app to encourage others to take an interest in the election… We want people to use the app as a civic engagement tool.”