Latinos face challenges when voting

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - With just a little more than a month from the election, things continue to heat up in the race for the White House.

Experts said this year, Latino voters are considered pivotal to the presidential election, but some Latinos could find themselves staying at home when it comes time to vote.

"It use to be to vote you just get a little card, and you present your little card and you vote," Political Science professor at Purdue Jay McCann said.

But in this day and age, McCann said getting to the polls has become a challenge. A challenge especially when it comes to Latino voter participation.

"More and more states now are requiring some sort of government issued photo I.D. That can be a state drivers license or a U.S. passport," McCann said.

McCann said one in every six Latinos may lack paper work in order to get a drivers license, or other government issued I.D. Because of that, many Latinos steer clear from voting.

"However, over time more and more of them will acquire voting rights and certainly their children who are U.S. born will mature into potential voters," McCann said.

"It's intimidating, it's definitely an intimidation factor," Latino Purdue student Gabriel Valtierra said. "If someone is worried about being an undocumented to begin with, what makes you think they'll willingly go up and say 'Oh, I want to go up and register to vote. Oh, I can't vote because I'm undocumented and then put themselves in that situation.' "

But for Latino Purdue student Gabriel Valtierra, who is eligible to vote, he said he'll take full advantage of his opportunity and right to have a say so in this year's election.

"As a citizen in the United States, it's your right to vote," Valtierra said. "Growing up my mother always told me go out and vote, you have that voice and you have that word and you have that choice to do so."

Experts said if Latinos turn out to vote in large numbers this fall, they could end up swaying the outcome in several swing states.