La prensa

DES MOINES — There is no Spanish translation for a caucus, that political process particular to just a few states. It is simply “el caucus.”

But for many Latinos in Iowa, el caucus is hardly simple. The state’s Latino population has surged in recent decades, with the number registered to vote estimated at more than 50,000, making it a potentially important bloc in the fast-approaching Democratic caucuses. And local leaders like Vanessa Marcano-Kelly believe there are not nearly enough Spanish-tailored caucus sites or interpreters to meet the need in the state.

“I feel like this year everyone has been talking about how Iowa is super-white, but it’s really not super-white to me,” said Ms. Marcano-Kelly, who petitioned the state Democratic Party to create caucus sites in Spanish. “I see Latinos everywhere.”

It is the first Iowa caucus for Ms. Marcano-Kelly, 34. In 2016, she watched from the sidelines, slightly bewildered at the spectacle and wondering how people could possibly understand if they did not speak English. As she wrote in her application months ago to the state Democratic Party, the Spanish sites would “ensure that the voices of all people can really be heard.

So on Feb. 3, the doors will open at the South Suburban Y.M.C.A. in Des Moines for hundreds of Spanish-speaking caucusgoers. Ms. Marcano-Kelly has been refreshing her Spanish vocabulary as she searches for the right words — some easier (viable is “viable”), some more obscure (threshold is “límite”).

Though Latinos make up just 6 percent of Iowa’s population, they have more than doubled in the state in the last two decades. In nearly a dozen towns throughout the state, Latinos now make up more than a third of the population. And since 2016, the League of United Latin American Citizens has worked to get thousands more registered to vote, a number the group estimates has now grown to 53,000.

Roughly 194,000 Latinos live in the state, and by most estimates, fewer than 3,000 participated in the 2016 caucuses. This year, Latino activists expect that number to grow to 20,000 or more. And for the first time, there are set to be six Spanish satellite caucus sites, a concession Democratic Party officials made to try to increase participation.

But despite the efforts, many activists believe there are not nearly enough interpreters lined up for the caucuses. Party officials are still scrambling to find bilingual speakers to run the Spanish caucuses, even as they look for more Spanish speakers to volunteer at other sites throughout the state.

And while some campaigns plan to send Spanish-speaking volunteers to towns where Latinos make up more than a third of the population, there is no clear system to ensure that Spanish-speaking caucusgoers will have interpretation services.

“Whatever the number is, I think it would be impossible to have enough to meet the need,” said Rob Barron, a Polk County school board member who runs a group dedicated to electing more Latinos to office. “Even if you’re a native English speaker, the process is intimidating. So for those who are willing to walk into that room without speaking the language, then hear words like viable, it’s only going to get more and more chaotic and confusing.”

In her day job, Ms. Marcano-Kelly travels all over the state as a Spanish interpreter, working in courts, medical offices and community centers. She learned years ago that more work was available than she could ever take on.

“We’re always short,” she said, adding that she knew of fewer than 10 fully certified interpreters in the state.

A native of Venezuela, Ms. Marcano-Kelly became a citizen just last year, after years of studying and working in the United States. After spending some of her teenage years in Boca Raton, Fla., she applied to South Dakota State University — choosing the college because it had the cheapest international student tuition she could find.

When the Democratic Party put a call out for applications for satellite caucuses that could be held away from traditional geographic precincts, Ms. Marcano-Kelly knew immediately that she would write one for Spanish. She thought of several of her friends who recently became citizens but do not speak English, as well as many Puerto Ricans she knows who moved to Iowa after Hurricane Maria struck the island in 2017.

As soon as the application was approved, Ms. Marcano-Kelly rushed to get a news release to Spanish radio stations and newspapers throughout the state, describing the caucuses as “asambleas comunitarias electorales” — community electoral assemblies. But el caucus is what sticks.

For all the linguistic efforts, Ms. Marcano-Kelly was certain of one thing: She did not want to be the one to run the caucus.

“That would be just way too big of a leap,” she said, laughing, over a gyro lunch not far from the State Capitol. As it is, she is more than a little anxious that her ambitions got ahead of her.

After submitting the satellite application, Ms. Marcano-Kelly decided she would become the precinct captain for Senator Bernie Sanders’s campaign, in charge of rounding up supporters who come to the Spanish caucus. But in recent days she has found herself grappling with whether her primary responsibility lies with the campaign or individual voters.

On a recent Saturday, Ms. Marcano-Kelly gathered with a few other community activists at the American Friends Service Committee for caucus training. The choices were more straightforward than policy platforms — participants were asked to choose among chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and M&M cookies and stand in a corner with the plate of cookies they preferred.

Ms. Marcano-Kelly was team M&M, but when it came time for the undecideds to choose, she did not argue the merits of candy-coated chocolate and instead dispassionately translated the pleas from others. Moments later, she reflected with some alarm about whether she would do the same on caucus night.

“I do pride myself in my ethics, but you know, I have a job to do,” she said. “So what do I do, deputize someone? Ultimately, above my undying loyalty for Bernie, I want people to participate and to be fair.”

Ms. Marcano-Kelly came into interpretation after working as a community organizer in Iowa. Burned out by long hours and low pay, she decided to take advantage of her fluency in English, Spanish and French and became a certified interpreter in 2015.

“The thing that is beautiful about being an interpreter is that you’re not going to omit, you’re not going to add, you’re not going to give advice, you’re going to literally let that person express in their own voice,” she said. “That’s what I am hoping everyone does here.”

But even more than that, Ms. Marcano-Kelly is hoping that the bilingual caucus turns into a monolingual Spanish caucus, so that there will be no need for interpretation at all.

“I’m nervous it’s going to be kind of chaotic,” she said.

Evidence of a booming Latino population can be seen in pockets all over the state, including Des Moines, where Latinos make up 12 percent of the city’s population and 26 percent of public school students. In recent years, Mexicans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans have settled here, many moving from California, Texas and Illinois.

As the temperature dipped below zero on a recent Sunday, the Mercado Iowa Market, an indoor swap meet, was packed with people drinking steaming champurrado and eating pupusas made on electric griddles. Couples sold hand-embroidered blouses and glittering cowboy boots imported from Mexico.

A Sanders campaign staff member was also present, handing out pamphlets in Spanish and answering questions for perplexed could-be caucusgoers.

Showing up to places where Latinos congregate has been a key part of the strategy for some of the campaigns and the League of United Latin American Citizens, more commonly known as LULAC, which has led the effort to register more Latinos. The group has held voter registration drives at tiendas and sponsored several mock caucus trainings in the state, with a handful more to come. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s campaign has sent a Latinx outreach director to dozens of festivals in the state over the last several months.

The Sanders campaign, in particular, has zeroed in on Latinos as a key voting bloc that it believes will prove vital to a win in Iowa. Advisers believe that increasing the number of Latinos who show up to caucus could push the campaign over the edge to gain more delegates.

In a novel way of attracting potential supporters, the campaign sponsored a futsal tournament, which brought out hundreds of Spanish-speaking soccer players and fans one recent Saturday night. So far, Mr. Sanders’s campaign appears to be the only one with precinct captains designated for the Spanish caucuses.

Despite the increased efforts this year, many Latino activists say the Democratic Party as a whole has not done enough to cultivate Latino voters, a criticism that is echoed nationally and that many believe could hurt the party in the general election.

“You would think that Iowa would really be a test case for Democrats,” said Joe Henry, who helped spearhead registration efforts in the state. “It isn’t hard for them to reach out to us. They either don’t see us, or when they see us they don’t want to listen.”

“The caucus has always been kind of like an inside game,” he added. “So we are inviting ourselves.”

There is still one question that keeps nagging at Ms. Marcano-Kelly.

“What is the plan,” she asks, “to make sure this goes smoothly?”