From the Barrio to the Ballot

 

 

 

Our Electoral Initiative

 

 

Politics should not be something done to our communities.

It should be something built from them.

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot is PUDE’s initiative to move people rooted in the barrio into political space—and to endorse candidates who are deeply aligned with the dignity, safety, and long-term wellbeing of our communities.

 

This initiative exists because when our communities are not organized politically, the same systems and institutions we are confronting continue to arm themselves—through laws, budgets, enforcement powers, and policies that enable imprisonment, detention, deportation, and state violence.

 

Silence, disengagement, or unstrategic participation does not stop this machinery.

It allows it to continue unchecked.

 

 

 

Why This Initiative Is Necessary

 

 

Every election cycle, decisions are made that expand or limit the power of institutions that shape our lives.

 

When our communities are not organized and clear:

 

• policing budgets expand

• enforcement powers increase

• detention and incarceration grow

• deportation machinery deepens

• accountability disappears

 

 

This happens not only because of bad actors, but because organized power fills the vacuum when communities do not.

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot exists to ensure our people are not absent when decisions are made that determine whether our communities are protected—or harmed.

 

 

 

What This Initiative Is

 

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot is a disciplined approach to elections centered on community accountability, not party loyalty.

 

It is about:

 

• endorsing candidates aligned with barrio priorities

• preparing communities to engage elections strategically

• preventing political participation from being used against our people

• strengthening community power before, during, and after elections

 

 

This initiative recognizes a hard truth:

If we do not intervene politically, harmful systems will continue to strengthen themselves.

 

 

 

Endorsing Candidates Aligned With the Barrio

 

 

PUDE endorses candidates based on alignment, not labels.

 

Alignment means:

 

• demonstrated commitment to community wellbeing

• clear opposition to policies that criminalize and harm communities

• accountability to organized barrios, not just institutions or donors

• willingness to be in ongoing relationship with community representatives

• courage to resist policies that expand harm, even under pressure

 

 

Endorsement is not symbolic.

It is a responsibility—to the people, not to political careers.

 

 

 

Making Space for People From the Barrio

 

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot is also about breaking the barrier between organizing and governing.

 

Too often, people from impacted communities are told to organize, protest, and mobilize—but never to occupy decision-making space. Meanwhile, others make choices that directly affect our lives without consequence.

 

This initiative supports people from the barrio to:

 

• step into political roles with preparation and clarity

• remain accountable to their communities

• resist assimilation into harmful political norms

• carry their people with them into every space

 

 

Taking space is not about individual advancement.

It is about collective protection.

 

 

 

How the Initiative Works

 

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot is rooted in Comités del Barrio and the General Assembly of Barrios.

 

Through these spaces, communities:

 

• identify threats and priorities

• evaluate candidates and ballot measures

• determine when endorsements are necessary

• coordinate electoral participation

• apply pressure beyond election day

 

 

This ensures electoral engagement strengthens community power instead of weakening it.

 

 

 

Engaging Elections With Clarity, Not Illusion

 

 

PUDE does not claim elections are liberation.

 

We are clear about something else:

Unstrategic voting—or disengagement—can arm the very systems that harm us.

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot prepares communities to:

 

• understand what each office actually controls

• recognize how laws and budgets translate into enforcement

• vote with responsibility toward life and safety

• stay organized after elections

 

 

Elections are not the movement.

But they shape the terrain the movement must survive on.

 

 

 

Working With Allies

 

 

PUDE works alongside organizations, movements, and political formations that share values around dignity, safety, and justice.

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot strengthens those alliances by ensuring communities enter political spaces organized, clear, and accountable—rather than fragmented or reactive.

 

Strong alliances require strong community foundations.

 

 

 

Why This Matters

 

 

When our communities are absent from political decision-making, policies are passed that expand harm—often quietly, often permanently.

 

From the Barrio to the Ballot exists to interrupt that cycle.

 

It ensures that when our communities engage politically, we do so:

 

• together

• with clarity

• with discipline

• and with accountability to our people

 

 

This is how we prevent the state from continuing to arm itself against us.

This is how we protect life while building long-term power.