America Ferrera calls on Hispanics to vote early in new DNC ads

Actress America Ferrera stars in a new series of bilingual ads released Tuesday by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), encouraging Hispanics to vote early in this year’s election.

The ads will run on a variety of digital platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Hulu and YouTube, following up on an earlier Spanish-language campaign on radio and print.

Both the new ads and the previous campaign are promoting the Democrats’ early-voting efforts, IWillVote.com and VoyAVotar.com.

Ferrera, best known for TV series “Ugly Betty” and film series “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” delivers her message in dual Spanish- and English-language videos, telling voters to go to the sites, which feature information on voting processes in each state.

“It has never been more important for you to exercise your right to vote than this year. There’s a lot on the line in this election, especially for our community,” Ferrera says.

“The best way to guide our country’s future is to vote early,” she adds.

The ads will run in English in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, and in Spanish in Arizona and Florida.

The ad push comes as reports of early voting from battleground states are showing encouraging signs for Democrats.

In Texas, for instance, where early voting started Tuesday, long lines were observed at Austin polling stations.

Democrats are encouraged by polls showing former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of President Trump both nationally and in many battlegrounds, but are wary that their advantage depends on high voter turnout.

That’s particularly true of districts and states where Democrats are relying on Hispanic voters to put them over the top.

Initial early voting tallies show new voters, who generally skew younger and more Democratic, are already participating more actively than in 2016, a positive sign for Democrats.

According to Chuck Rocha, the architect of independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Latino campaign strategy during the Democratic presidential primaries, phone banks and get-out-the-vote operations are recording record early Hispanic voter participation.

27% of the Latino vote that is in so far did NOT vote in 2016! And 5 times more Latinos have voted compared to 2016. This is NOT a poll but actual real people with name, address, and phone numbers. We take them off the list for GOTV calls and mail now. #idothisforaliving

— Chuck Rocha (@ChuckRocha) October 12, 2020

Still, Democrats are not letting up the pressure.

In addition to the video ads featuring Ferrera, the DNC made a six-figure purchase for print and radio ads to push VoyAVotar.com in battleground states.

The print ads will run in Arizona, Florida, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada, and the radio ads in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Texas and Wisconsin.

“Latino communities across the battleground states have a critical voice in this election, that’s why we are reaching out directly to these voters and ensuring they have the tools they need to make their plan to vote,”  said DNC Chair Tom Perez in a statement.