The three little girls, all wearing glittery shoes, sit patiently on brown folding chairs near the supermarket checkout lines. Their mom, Nelly Tobon, is excited to hear the woman she is supporting for president, Senator Elizabeth Warren.“I want to have a president woman,” Tobon said in halting English. “I want the real change.” Tobon says she likes Warren because they think alike on family issues.WATCH: Presidential Candidates Eagerly Court the Hispanic Vote in NevadaSorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former presidential candidate Julián Castro introduces Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to a standing ovation at Cardenas Market in East Las Vegas. (Carolyn Presutti/VOA)1 in 4 Nevadans is HispanicNevada, which holds the “First Caucus in the West,” is also the first test of a candidate’s appeal to minority voters. Latinos make up 28% of the state’s voting electorate.Introducing Warren to the supermarket crowd is Julian Castro, a former presidential candidate and Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Obama administration.The rally is hosted by civic group Mi Familia Vota and its executive director, Héctor Sánchez Barba, who asks Warren questions about minimum wage, Puerto Rican debt, immigration, health care and Latino representation.“Will you commit to four Latinos in your Cabinet?” Sanchez Barba asked.
“Are you going to limit me to four?” quipped Warren, who later adds she cannot promise numbers but can promise “a seat at the table.”Soccer players wait for tacos at a Latino soccer tournament sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders. (Carolyn Presutti/VOA)Kicking in the voteRocha is watching a soccer tournament sponsored by the Sanders campaign. Young male teams alternate on and off the field. Music is playing and a food stand offers made-to-order burritos, tacos and quesadillas, with horchata (a milky Mexican drink made of rice and flavored with cinnamon and sugar) to drink. But one person is missing — Sanders. Rocha said Sanders is traveling the state and cannot be at every event.Soccer spectators were sparse and most could not vote because of their status without documentation.Several soccer players said they entered the U.S. as children and lack the proper documentation, but are able to stay in the U.S. under DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This policy allows some individuals to be eligible for a renewable two-year period of deferred action from deportation.Nonetheless, a Sanders van stood waiting, in case anyone needed to be driven to the polls to cast early votes in the caucus.
…