Government. The Supreme Court is expected to announce a decision this week on whether a Citizenship Question can be added to the 2020 census. The National Association of latino elected and appointed officials hosted a discussion on this topic at its annual conference in miami. This session addressed what kind of an impact the latino electorate could have on the president ial election and what steps the Latino Community and its leadership are taking to selfmobilize for next years census. So afternoon, wed like to spend a few minutes reflecting first on what we heard this morning and some of the issues that were addressed by the candidates as we delve into what were calling next year as the perfect storm. Right . So the 2020 census, you all heard its coming, but there is also an election in 2020. Arturo its all happening at the same time. And for better or for worse, the role of latinos in the 2020 census, the role of latinos in primaries and the november election will be a key narrative of next year. And so what is that going to look like . What are its implications . How do we begin now so that narrative tells the complete story of the impact latinos will have on american politics . So to help me have this conversation, please welcome to the stage, as i introduce them, let me start, first, with another past naleo president , the current secretary of state of the great state of l. A. Ornia i am from the honorable alex padilla. If you could come on stage. Secretary padilla was elected in 2014 and became the first latino to hold the office of secretary of state. He previously served on the city council for the city of los angeles. Come on up, sir. Take a seat. And in the california state senate. [applause] arturo and he did us a great honor and favor by serving as cochair of the National Latino commission on census 2020. In fact, he did such a good job that mayor newsome in california just appointed him as chair of the california complete count committee. [applause] arturo please, welcome to the stage Miamidade County board School District board member navarro. Ruby [applause] she was elected to fill a vacancy to fill a vacancy, since elected to represent the constituents of district 7. Her Public Service goes back many years, two decades. Previously worked for numerous state legislators in the Florida State house and state senate. And i know one of her prouder Public Service roles was leading Miamidade Countys 2010 town committee. So please welcome her. Teresa kumar, make sure i get your title right president and c. E. O. Of shes an emmy nominated contributor to msnbc and under her leadership, moto latino has become a key factor in National Elections by directly registering over a carter million new voters and influencing millions more through vital celebritydriven campaigns and social media campaigns. And her organization is terrific partner with naleo educational fund. And also dr. Matt, cofounder and managing director of the polling and Research Firm of latino decision. Hes also a professor of Political Science and chicana and chicano studies at ucla. He held positions at the university of washington. Hes the author of four books and more than 60 articles. And he is founding faculty director of the latino policy and Politics Initiative at the ucla Luskin School of public affairs. So let me get started. As i gather my notes over here, move over to the chair, but im going to start asking the doctor to give us your take on what you heard this morning from the candidates. I know your firm, you have done a couple polls. You did one for us. Thats right. I think it was in april. We commissioned them to do a poll of latino register voters to look at famblt ratings of the candidates. I know you did just did one for univision as well. Give us what happened in the past few months in famblt ratings and reflect what you heard from some of the candidates that showed up today. Thank you, arturo, for having us here. He commissioned to us do a poll in april. We gave him an extremely low price on that poll and he said i could have a free trip to miami so im here. Thank you. Enjoying miami. Thank you for the welcome. We had a great time here. In april we found that not a lot of latinos had been hearing from the president ial candidates so far. Even though a lot of us who follow the news very closely had been obsessed with seeing what was happening and felt like the campaign had already been going on too long. But many latino voters didnt share that. They felt the candidates had not been reaching out that month. They were still getting to know the candidates and this was very similar to what we had done in some of our work with naleo during the 2018 election. In which we found throughout that 2018 election the campaigns and the candidates were slow to reach out to the Latino Community and they did catch up over the fall and we did have a really excellent massive turnout by 2018 election day. But were seeing that same thing now. That it seems our community is always the last one to get approached by the cane candidates, to be engaged by the candidates. When we looked at the new poll that came out yesterday from univision we found there had been an increase, especially for some of the more wellknown candidates. Joe biden, bernie sanders, Julian Castro had the highest name recognition, same to the naleo poll. They had increased from five to six points since april. Theyre still getting to know the Latino Community and the Latino Community is getting to know them so we had a large percentage. In some cases, over half, a majority of latino voters saying they had no opinion or had never heard of some of these candidates who are major candidates, u. S. Senators, and other important positions. So hopefully well see that number go down. Well see more outreach in our community. And i just want to thank naleo for their work in keeping the spotlight on that because not everyone asks those questions but arturo always insists that when we ask latino voters, we ask them, how much have you heard . Are you hearing from the candidates . And were able to use that to report to the media and report back to the candidates that you need to do a better job engaging our community. Arturo excellent. Maria teresa, pick up on that. I know youve been following the campaigns. Youve done a stellar job representing our community on msnbc. I understand you were there this morning sorry we missed you. Maria teresa sorry i missed you. Arturo tell us what youre hearing from the candidates in the campaigns, how are they playing on the issues youre hearing from the community . Maria teresa you bring everybody in a place where theres opportunity and theres so much opportunity in this election and one of the things were hearing from the candidates is there is a curiousity from the Latino Community but for many they see us as foreigners and our job is to really bridge them. When matt says, yes, latinos came out in force, that was despite the fact that no one reached out to us. Lets be clear. By the 2018 Midterm Election after votes were cast, 76 of latinos came out and voted. 49 of registered latinos had never heard a peep from anybody. So for the people in this room, there is no plan b for our community. We have to be very, very clear that the elections are going to be the most important ones in our lifetime but we need to make sure we need to keep an eye on the ball on the census where we talk about this idea that the census is not pouring money back into our community and then our 5yearold shows up in kindergarten and theres not deask, its because he wasnt not a desk, its because he wasnt counted. There is a correlation. We are living in a curious time, a time of opportunity. In voto latino, we registered 50 we registered directly from texas, and the opportunity lies in young people. Whether were talking about the census, whether were talking about the election, when people say that latinos dont vote, thats nonsense. Our issue is closing the Voter Registration gap. We have roughly 15 million latinos that are unregistered. 10 million of them under the age of 29. Vote. Ey register they our destiny is so intertwined with this country and its disproportionately young. The majority of latinos, we are 19 years old, so when we talk about the census, we encourage we should have campaigns and voto latino have done so in the past, we focused on young people. What we did last time we focused on 15yearolds because she could shepherd the census with parents. Los nt to 66,000 kids in angeles. We went to churches in chicago. We were up in albegan banny, new york, and we saw performance, but its because we recognize these young peoples agency. I encourage you to develop your programs. Recognize their leadership because as one said so adequately, we are their imagination, but now we are also their voice. Thank you mati at todays that. Teresa. Spend a few more minutes about what we heard this morning. , ande turn to you, lubby you are supposed to have asked the question to senator warren. But her remarks were not just one minute. So you are not able to ask that question. You are both a school board member. Whone of the republicans, we want to make sure the candidates understand they are talking to in this room. I assume none of those are your candidates, not being of your party. Reflecting on what you heard, how do you think it plays out in this community . One of the messages i heard was that some of them were very ready on the census question. We made sure of that. Particularly with the senator, i felt she did not have a plan. We have to to be on point to make sure that they understand that although the election is in november, 20 20, there will be consequences to this nation for 10 years. We have to be direct, and an sure they have an answer and a day oneexecute, come in january, 2020. We have to make sure that the census is a priority not just with our candidates, but with every community in this country. Served witho have as a cochairllo with the National Commission on the census, thank you naleo. And the commissioners, i believe we have four present with us. This was a lot of work. We went to five cities and heard direct testimony from experts on this. I want to recognize our president who served with us. Santiago. Tive and our dear friend from columbus ohio. [applause] these are some of the commissioners who are here. We were able to hear on the ground some of the issues that communities across the nation will be facing. Of losted in the city angeles. We want to new york, new york. Sent tonio, texas and orlando, florida. With this information, we were able to release, on may 22, the secretary and i, along with naleo , the Commission Report called the community speaks. This is valuable information for you. We hope that the Census Bureau and the administration can act on some of the administration docs recommendations and findings that we came up with. Host thank you. Padilla, full transparency, i know that you do have a favorite in the field. Harris l senator, do youharris. What. Hink happened this morning i think it was great for eight candidates for president of the United States came, not just to talk to us. But to talk to our community. And i do not know who was holding their breath hoping all 25 were going to be here. We would still be here. In the country hosted 13 or 14 candidates. It was a prime opportunity to speak to the leadership of our community. Myy. Padilla from observations, some were more prepared than others. Some were more comfortable. Some firsttimers and some andat speakers to naleo that speaks volumes in terms of the organization being recognized as a place as the best place to address issues of our community. Us. Gration is important to every candidate was different. Stancestances policy. Host and the noshows . They will have to work harder. Host lets talk about the census report. Mentioned. Host we heard from africanamericans, from asians, from Lgbt Community members about what is happening in america as we prepare for census 2020. What was the most surprising thing that you heard . You attended all five hearings eerie that you heard from around the country. As all five hearings was there a common theme . Ms. Navarro i think the common theme was fear. Not just of the undercount, but the government has the atrocity to ask us for the First Time Since the 1950 census, a very deliberative time, are you a citizen . And i, as an immigrant to this nation, have a problem with it. Our u. S. Citizen . I, a u. S. Citizen, have a problem with that. The common theme, whether you are representing an asian community,chicano and Lgbt Community, or the issue of children or families, it was the fear of what is going to happen when i answer this question . Obviously, with the fear of punishment, if i put a false statement to that question. But the fear that now the government will have that information. And how will it be utilized, despite the federal protections on the release of that information . Our communities already are in the shadows in the last few years, with what is going on in this nation. Our families have fear of sending their children to our schools. We see this every day in miami dade. If you think this is not a real fear, come to my community in the redlands, where they work and live. Hat is the theme, Arturo Padilla . The concern that we talk sometimes to intellectually about questioning the citizenship of every person in america through the census, the impact that could have. From prior experience, knowing our community, it will discourage people from participating. Is not thatrvation that is anecdotal, but that it is very, very palpable. Communities, to leaders in academia, in government, in philanthropy, acrosstheboard. That concern and that fear is very palpable. And, as i have been saying in california. This applies across the country. Every 10 years, it is tough enough to ensure a complete National Population count. It is tough. There is a reason why it is why there is a hard to count designation that we utilize when it comes to the census. Now come on top of all that, we layer on the Citizenship Question. Layer on top of that, years of underfunding and understaffing of the Census Bureau. So we are less prepared today than we would typically be, at this stage of the game. Layer on top of that, the Digital First census. Most people are used to getting the form in the mail. Now, most people will get a postcard with instructions on how to go online to submit your information electronically. They said we will have other options, to get the survey later, or to do it by phone, or what have you. But that is the first impression. Where there is still a Digital Divide in america from an axis standpoint, a Digital Literacy standpoint. Let alone concerns about cyber security. So theres a lot of work cut out for us. But the stakes are no different. What it means for pluto, representation political representation, redistricting, federal funding. The stakes remain just as high, the challenges are greater, and we do not have a second chance. Not in 2020. At some of those candidates say they would support a recount or doing it over, if 2020 turns out to be the disaster that many of us think in maybe. Let me go to matt. Be ind an opportunity to the courtroom during the litigation, serving as an expert witness. Your research was used by the plaintiffs who sued the department of commerce and the Census Bureau over the decision to place this question on their. And your research was used and cited by the judges in this case. If us your perspective. What was it like to be give us your perspective. What was it like to be in the courtroom . You are not at the Supreme Court arguments on april 23. But you were there at the district level. Dr. Barreto it was remarkable. I was very fortunate to be selected by both the new York Attorney general and also the California Attorney general to conduct original research and author these reports. Dayew york, it was a half a about four hours of explaining the research and answering questions from the department of justice lawyers. And in the california trial, it was an entire day. It was about eight. 5 hours being on the stand, walking eight and a half hours being on the stand, walking through the findings and explaining what was at stake. I think the judges in all three of the cases, i research was presented in the kravitz case in maryland though there wasnt any live testimony. All three of the judges, if you look at the questions they asked and the way they wrote their opinions, were there were very thoughtful. They were following the questions, asking witnesses to clarify, how would the imputation work. ,ow would the proxies work meaning that if you do not answer the senses, they will send someone to the community and ask hey do you know who lives in this house . Have any people live there . You know if their citizens are not citizens . And if nobody answers that. They will send a statistician will say well, that house probably has about 2. 2 people. Previous census documents. It is already stated. The census does a self critique at the end. Every year they know, as a secretary said, that there are hard to count populations. These are predominantly in recent immigrant arrivals or in undocumented communities. The census has published its own 2 thousand 2,992, 2 thousand 12, saying that there is a huge trust factor in undocumented communities. We know that we are getting account wrong. Luckily, we are able to do an ok job, beca