El Tímpano’s election coverage, like all of our journalism, was powered by the voices of our community of Latino and Mayan immigrants living in the East Bay.
We asked our thousands of text message subscribers to describe their everyday struggles with issues on the ballot such as housing, the high cost of living and challenges accessing health care. The more than 220 personal anecdotes we received in response fueled our coverage of local ballot measures and state propositions.
We also conducted a text message survey and created an El Timpano ballot box, titled “Voz del Pueblo,” or “Voice of the People,” which we brought to community events across Alameda and Contra Costa counties. More than 280 participants identified the cost of living, health, housing, work, education and public safety as top issues.
Because many members of the Latino and Mayan immigrant community can’t vote in this election, we shared those issues with candidates running in their districts and asked how they would address the concerns raised by those who voted in our survey.
Overall, our coverage aimed to provide our community with the information most valuable to them, identify how proposed legislation could affect them and amplify their concerns to the political and community leaders who serve them.
CREDITS
Reporting: El Tímpano Newsroom
Web design: Hiram Alejandro Durán and Katherine Nagasawa
Translation: Vanessa Flores, Juan Pablo Perez, Madeleine Bair, Hiram Alejandro Durán
Photography: Hiram Alejandro Durán
Editing: Heather Tirado-Gilligan