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At 18, Lucero García registered to vote for the first time in North Carolina. She is the first in her family born in the United States and the first to attend college.
“As a citizen, having the opportunity to vote and make a change, I don’t want to waste that opportunity,” she told Enlace Latino NC. “I want to do everything I can to help those who can’t vote.”
Like her, a new generation of young Latino voters is joining North Carolina’s voter rolls, part of an electorate that is considerably younger than its non-Hispanic counterpart, according to an Enlace Latino NC analysis of data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE).
A young Latino electorate
Latinos make up about 11% of North Carolina’s population. However, as of Feb. 20, only 4.5% of registered voters identify as Hispanic or Latino.
Political scientist Michael Bitzer, a professor at Catawba College, told Enlace Latino NC that the figure may underestimate the true size of the Latino electorate. Currently, more than 2.4 million voters are listed with “unknown” ethnicity in the state registry.
But beyond the total number, what stands out is age.
Of the 338,531 Hispanic voters, active or inactive, 108,672 are under 25 and 218,469 are younger than 41, according to NCSBE data as of Jan. 1, 2026. That means 32.1% of the Hispanic electorate is under 25 and 64.5% is under 41.
Compared with the rest of the voter rolls, Hispanic representation is much more visible among younger voters.
Among Hispanic voters:
64.5% are under 41.
35.5% are 41 or older.
Among non-Hispanic voters:
36% are under 41.
64% are 41 or older.
Together, these figures show that the Hispanic electorate is concentrated among younger generations — a factor that, if registration and turnout are sustained, will increase its electoral weight over time.
For Bitzer, the pattern is partly driven by demographic factors. Each year, more young Latinos reach voting age, reflecting the sustained growth of this population over the past decades.
The trend is also unfolding in a context of accelerated population growth fueled by domestic migration. Between July 2024 and July 2025, North Carolina added nearly 146,000 residents and grew by 1.3%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Increasingly “unaffiliated”
The youth of the Latino electorate also helps explain another pattern: its high level of party unaffiliation.
Among those who identify as Hispanic or Latino, 48% are registered as unaffiliated with any party, representing nearly half of the registered Latino electorate. By contrast, 34% are registered as Democrats and 17% as Republicans.
This level of unaffiliation is significantly higher than that observed among non-Hispanic whites (39%) and far higher than among African Americans (25%). Only the group classified as “other races/unknown” has a higher share of unaffiliated voters (55%).
The trend toward unaffiliation is especially pronounced among young voters statewide, which partly explains why it is more visible within the Latino electorate, whose composition is younger than the rest of the voter rolls.
Patricia Serrano, naturalized in 2025, registered as unaffiliated on the same day as her citizenship ceremony.
“For now, I liked the idea of not giving too much information, and if later I need to change it to affiliate with a specific party, I would,” she told Enlace Latino NC.
Bitzer describes millennials and Generation Z as “children of polarized politics.” For some, registering as unaffiliated avoids partisan labels. For others, it is a strategic decision, since North Carolina primaries are semi-open.
However, this group tends to be less consistent in its participation, especially in primary elections.
From outrage to mobilization
Recent immigration raids and enforcement operations could become a turning point for Latino voter participation.
Disapproval of immigration policy varies by age, origin and political party: 77% of Latinos under 30 believe deportations are excessive, compared with 64% of those 65 and older, according to a Pew Research survey.
In Charlotte, outrage over immigration policy led García to register. After seeing the “Charlotte’s Webb” operation in her city and having to run errands herself because her parents were afraid to leave the house, she decided she did not want to remain on the sidelines. The anxiety, she said, lingered.
“I see what they’re going through, the fear they have of going out, buying food or going to work. I think no one should be suffering or afraid to go out. If I can do something to change that, I want to do it,” García said.
Irving Zavaleta, state director of Mi Familia Vota, told Enlace Latino NC that similar stories are repeating in communities across the state.
Mi Familia Vota has intensified its efforts ahead of the 2026 elections. The organization began sustained registration work in 2024 and this year has set a goal of registering 8,500 people, which Zavaleta described as the largest effort carried out by a Latino organization in North Carolina.
But registration, he warned, is only the first step.
“Very few of us turn out to vote at the local level,” he said. “We have to participate in all elections — municipal, state and federal.”
Beyond immigration: Economy, education and health care
Latino voters, like the broader electorate, do not vote due to a single issue. At the moment, immigration appears to be acting as a trigger for many young voters, but it is not the only issue of concern, Zavaleta explained.
During outreach in Mecklenburg, Wake, Durham and Orange counties, his organization has heard concerns about rising rents, food prices and the difficulty of buying a home.
The economy had already been central in the 2024 elections. At the time, José Mora, president of the Latinos Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, criticized “Bidenomics,” the term used by the Biden administration for its economic platform.
“We’re not in an ideal economic situation,” Mora told Enlace Latino NC about the current climate. “If you handle the economy poorly, it comes back to haunt you — no matter who you are.”
Although he acknowledged some recent progress, such as tax adjustments that he said benefit business owners and workers, Mora maintained there is still room for improvement, something that could influence voters.
In the Triangle, Zavaleta added, education and health care are also top priorities.
Turnout remains the biggest challenge
Even as registration initiatives grow, the decisive factor will continue to be turnout.
In the 2024 municipal elections, Latino turnout was 4.8% compared with the statewide average of 9.2%. Young Latino voters participated at less than 2%.
Historically, even in presidential elections, Latino voters turn out at rates between 18 and 25 percentage points below the statewide average, Bitzer said.
That gap may be linked to age, mobility, information barriers and distrust, among other factors. The challenge also reflects a broader tension in North Carolina: older voters continue to dominate participation.
“If we have these two generations, the millennials and the Gen Z’s, really taking over the voter registration pool, but they’re not showing up, that means that they’re handing the power to make these decisions at the ballot box to older voters,” Bitzer said.
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