Labor giant Service Employees International Union is exploiting All Soul’s Day to drive Hispanic turnout in the midterm elections.
The SEIU is distributing Spanish-language flyers to the public asking them to turnout on Tuesday to "honor" their dead relatives. "Feliz Dia de los Muertos! On Day of the Dead, let’s honor our ancestors and culture with the power of our vote. Vote early or vote on November 4th."
The union tweeted out the flyer on Sunday.
The message appears next to five Hispanic people clad in the face paint traditionally used to celebrate All Soul’s Day in Latin America. One of the men in the ad is wearing a shirt that says "Undocumented."
Illegal immigrants are federally barred from voting.
The SEIU and the liberal Kellogg Foundation spent millions of dollars to finance opposition to voter identification laws, which aim to prevent voter fraud.
The tweet links viewers to an interactive map to find local polling places.
¡Feliz Día de los Muertos! This yr, let's honor our ancestors & culture w/ the #PowerofOurVote http://t.co/SlZqWMYRck pic.twitter.com/PA3x6VQKzh
— SEIU (@SEIU) November 3, 2014
While Halloween is a staple in the United States, Latin and South American cultures focus greater emphasis on All Soul’s Day on November 1.
The SEIU is one of the largest Democratic donors in the country, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. It has contributed more than $12 million in the 2014 cycle, with nearly all of that money going to Democrats. Additionally, the union has given almost $5 million to outside spending groups.
The union’s top recipient is embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, who trails Rep. Cory Gardner in Colorado by several points heading into election day. The Hispanic vote could prove decisive in that race, which will play a key role in determining the Senate majority.
"The Hispanic vote is ultimately what Mark Udall's hopes rest on," pollster Kevin Ingham told the Denver Post last week. "If they do not turn out, then the race is going to end up going to Gardner."
President Obama won more than 70 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2012, according to Pew. Voters of Hispanic descent represented 10 percent of all ballots that year. Democrats fear that those voters may sit out in midterm election, which generally trend older and whiter.
Republicans gained six points among Hispanic voters between 2010 and 2014, while Democratic support dropped 8 points, according to Pew. Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew’s Director of Hispanic Research, told MSNBC on November 1 that such trends could spell bad news for Democrats in tight races.
"We’ve seen some slipping in terms of Latino support for congressional candidates," he said. "We also see a decline in political affiliation and even fewer Latino saying that the Democratic Party is the party that has more concern for the community."