Historically, voter turnout in U.S. elections is fairly low. But as there is strong debate around the issues that will likely decide the next wave of law makers in November, a new get-out-the-vote initiative aimed at one of the country’s fastest growing demographics is being launched from an unlikely source.
Chispa, a dating app created for the millennial Latinx community that was launched by Dallas-based Match Group, is teaming up with national grassroots political nonprofit Voto Latino to roll out new features in its app to that will create a community conversation around voting and issues in the upcoming elections.
“The goal there is to spark meaningful conversations among our members… it gives us a starting point on that subject,” Julia Estacolchic, head of marketing at Chispa, told NTX Inno. “We’re helping them register; we’re helping ignite the conversation around the community; we’re helping ignite conversations among themselves… and the main thing is to activate the conversation and to ignite action behind that.”
Since its launch in 2017, Chispa has sought to show the diversity of the Latinx population, with features like the ability to show your family’s roots on your profile, while highlighting the commonalities of culture and language. Estacolchic said it has been able to do this through a diverse team that includes members with origins across Central and South America.
With the new initiative, Estacolchic said the company is looking to ignite conversation and action in the community it has helped create. When users log onto the Chispa app, they will be asked if they would like to register to vote. If they do, they will later be sent updates on where and how to vote in-person or by mail. In addition, users can then choose which issues in the upcoming election are most important to them, allowing them to match with other users not just on similarities and attraction, but also on political values.
“I think there are a lot of issues the general population is sensitive to but they touch even deeper for the Latino community,” Estacolchic said. “We realize there are a lot of differences. It is a very diverse group, but there are a lot of things that unite us as a community. Our challenges are similar… the hope is you are able to connect with others who can genuinely understand those experiences.”
As part of the new initiative, Chispa recently conducted a survey among its more than three million users to determine what issues were most important to them. Among those were immigration, racial equality and the economy. However, it also found that 63% of users don’t think political affiliation is an important factor in finding love and that 25% think it is a conversation starter.
Estacolchic said it’s important to energize the Latinx vote because in this election they are expected to be the largest non-white voting demographic, with about 32 million votes. In addition, she said the younger generations will likely have an even larger portion of the vote in future elections.
“The main goal here is to make sure that our community knows that their voice counts, that their vote is not just a vote of an individual but the vote of a community. That they can see change by acting together individually and as a community, and I think it’s more important than ever,” Estacolchic said.
The effort to get-out-the-vote comes at a time when in-person interaction is limited, something that Estacolchic said has greatly impacted the Latinx community beyond politics. She said that something that unites Latinx people is the strong sense of family and community, which has been strained by social distancing and lockdown orders. However, out of this, Estacolchic said Chispa has seen nearly 25% more matches and about 35% more exchanged messages during the height of the pandemic. It’s a trend that has been seen in other Match Group-owned dating apps like Tinder and Ship.
“If you think of the Latino community as being a very social community, the pandemic really has brought out a reality that they were not really used to; their personal and physical networks are at the core of the Hispanic community and at the core of how we’ve grown,” Estacolchic said. “The pandemic really put Hispanics in a position where they really had to adapt not only how they were connected to others but also how they stay informed.”
