DES MOINES — Marlú Abarca was leading bilingual story time at a library here, reading an animal book aloud and strumming “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” on a ukulele before launching into an explanation in Spanish of the state’s election process — a brief lesson in democracy more for the three immigrant parents in attendance than their children.
“Who has heard about the caucuses?” she said to blank looks in the room. Only one of the parents said he vaguely knew what they were, and none were aware that Iowa was about to vote first in the heated Democratic presidential race in a matter of days.
“Well, today, we are going to practice how to vote as if we’re part of one,” she said, dividing the group of parents and children by their vote for their favorite days of the year.
The 2020 election will mark the first time that Latinos will be the nation’s largest nonwhite voting bloc, and in Iowa they are a small but growing part of the electorate. Yet, as candidates campaigned across the snow-covered state this week and campaign ads filled the airwaves, many Latinos and other people of color remain shut out of Iowa’s big political moment even as Democratic leaders are making a significant change to try to increase their participation.
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