A Texas teen decided her quinceañera would include an element beyond the usual traditions: Aleida Ramos, a 15-year-old in Houston, included a hybrid photo booth/voter registration station at her celebration, according to NBC News. In the entry to the venue for Aleida’s festivities there was a booth from the Jolt Initiative, a Latinx youth advocacy group, where her largely Latinx guests could register to vote.
Rocking her “rose-colored tiara, coral dress with a scalloped bell skirt, and cowgirl boots,” NBC News reported that Aleida took a few minutes to encourage partygoers to stop by Jolt’s booth, telling the crowd, “Our vote ensures we continue to protect our community and those who matter to us most.”
According to NBC News, Jolt organizers showed Aleida photos of the group’s quinceañera-dress protest against a Texas ban on sanctuary cities outside the state capitol in 2018. That convinced her that, even if she’s too young to vote, registration could be a part of her birthday.
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“I liked their stories and what they said about everything, and I wanted to do something that would help us — trying to make a difference in things for our community,” Aleida told NBC News. “It inspired me.”
“My dad tells me I have to be educated to vote and have to know what I’m voting for and about the person,” Aleida continued. “He tells me that before school, 'Be educated so when you vote you know who you are voting for and everything they are doing.'”
According to NBC News, voter registration is something Jolt wants to make more common at quinceañeras. The group says 50,000 of these events are held in Texas alone each year, and their “Poder Quince” initiative, launched in May, is designed to turn these gatherings into a chance to boost Texas’s Latinx voter turnout.
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According to The Texas Tribune, voter turnout in Texas increased 18% for the 2018 midterms compared with the previous midterms. As reported by the Corpus Christi Caller Times, analysts credit that boost at least in part to Latinx voters, citing figures that indicate Latinx turnout in Texas nearly doubled from 2014, mirroring a nationwide trend.
A HuffPost report from January quoted advocates who say that when Republican state leaders called into question the citizenship of 98,000 voters following that surge, it was part of a “voter suppression” effort. The nest month, The New York Times reported that a judge had blocked the effort to purge voter rolls, calling it “ham-handed.” Since then, the Texas legislature has been working on a new election security bill that has been criticized by those worried it could also allow state-sponsored voter suppression, The Texas Tribune reported in May.
As the fight over voting rights in Texas plays out at the state level, Jolt is hoping it can continue its “Poder Quince” initiative to keep registering Latinx voters.
Bethany Cano, Aleida’s 21-year-old sister, told NBC News she thinks the program is powerful: “It’s a good idea that every Latina can have this speech and empower girls to know that when they turn 18, they can have a voice,” she said.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Voter Suppression in the 2018 Midterms
