2022 Post Election Report

2022

Post Election Report

Letter from the Executive Director

In 2022, CASA carried out the essential work of making our communities heard. We did not shout through the megaphone–we handed it over to black, brown, working-class, and immigrant communities to raise their voices together. Our critical civic engagement work within our communities took us across two of our core states, Maryland and Pennsylvania, where we empowered the people to protect their democracy, got out the vote, and turned the unheard into the unignorable.

We dove into two key ballot initiative campaigns in two different parts of Maryland, the largest such campaigns in those jurisdictions’ history—returning local control of the Baltimore police department to Baltimore City residents and protecting Howard County’s Liberty Act, which prohibits collecting and sharing residents’ immigration information with federal immigration authorities. CASA’s nonpartisan goal was to make sure that our members and their communities knew about these often overlooked parts of the ballot and understand that it was up to them to put their own values into practice. Through the support of our communities and the investment of our allies, CASA was able to raise $2.3 million for the execution of these campaigns. More importantly, our communities spoke definitively: the Liberty Act will remain the law, and Baltimore City is going to operate and control its own police department for the first time in 162 years.

In Pennsylvania, CASA engaged in a robust nonpartisan election program to assist voters in registering to vote, casting their ballots by mail, and making their voting plan, all in preparation of one of the most critical elections in the nation. We fought hard to make sure nothing stands in the way of our communities becoming a critical and expressive voting bloc in the state, whose wishes all of those in power must respect. In particular, CASA is proud that our efforts led directly to a major language access victory in York and Lancaster Counties, with the result that thousands of Spanish-speaking voters enjoyed access to ballots printed in the language they understand the best–and we’re not talking about in a future election, but in this very election.

Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, CASA’s new Chief of Organizing, told me something during these campaigns: “From voting rights to abortion, from living wages to health care, and from public safety to education, the participation of this nation’s immigrants and communities of color has never been more paramount for American democracy,” she said. “The CASA organizations dutifully sought to convey that message to voters, and urged them to advocate for a brighter future by making their voices heard at the polls.”

I couldn’t agree more. The people in power have gone on too long pretending that the people in our communities don’t exist. But they do exist, and in CASA’s nonpartisan campaigns they made it plain what they want: to defend what’s right, and to change what’s wrong.

In Solidarity,
Gustavo Torres

Our Campaign by the Numbers

Pennsyvania

37,724

voters reached through all modalities

5,703,500

ad impressions

5,331

new voters registered

Maryland

2

local referenda races won

39,456

voters reached in Baltimore through all modalities

27,000+

voters reached in Howard County through all modalities

Results

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