‘Nexos’ to examine Latino vote and the 2016 presidential election

David Leal, professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, and Federico Rios, program director of Elementary School Services at Communities in Schools of Charlotte Mecklenburg, will lead a public conversation about Latino votes in the presidential campaigns on Thursday, March 31.

“Nexos: The 2016 Presidential Election and the Latino/a Vote” will be held at UNC Charlotte Center City; doors open at 5 p.m., and the program will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a reception at 6:30 p.m.

Leal is a widely known scholar of Latino/a politics, and Rios is a specialist who works closely with undocumented minors who attend Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

This March 31 public discussion will conclude the 11th annual William Wilson Brown Conference on Latin American Studies hosted by UNC Charlotte’s Latin American Studies program in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration. “Nexos” is a collaboration between the department and the University’s Center for the Study of the New South.

Among topics open for discussion during this event are political exclusion, difficulty in voting, racism, candidates’ language describing immigrants and more. Since North Carolina’s presidential primary is March 15, this event can look specifically at how candidates campaigned in the state and what it may mean for the general election in November.

This conversation is supported in part by a grant from the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund.

The event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are requested.