Mexico Gets Own Version of 'Rock the Vote'

By Amy Isackson / Border Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 16, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A new movement in Mexico is attempting to get young people involved in politics. KPBS reporter Amy Isackson has details.

The new initiative is called "Your Vote is Rocking." The organizers wanted to create a movement similar to "Rock the Vote" in the United States and collaborated with that group's founders. The U.S. "Rock the Vote" was created 15 years ago and seeks to make the political participation "cool" by using pop culture.

The Mexican version will enlist soccer stars, singers, actors and artists to try to get young people to vote in the country's presidential election in July. The campaign will focus on areas where voter apathy among young people is most evident, like Tijuana.

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The group's organizer, Armando Ortigosa, says the movement is apolitical. He says they'll take on other issues after the presidential election. Amy Isackson, KPBS news.

Amy Isackson

Amy Isackson was the border reporter at KPBS from 2004 to 2011. She covered breaking news and feature stories on California-Mexico border issues and immigration, for local and national broadcast. Amy got her start in public radio by pitching a series of stories about rural New Zealand - horse dentistry and sheep sheering - to Radio New Zealand's "Country Life" program. She then worked with Peabody Award-winning radio producers Nikki Silva and Davia Nelson, to help create the Sonic Memorial, a series of stories on the World Trade Center before, during and after 9/11. Amy's work has been recognized with awards from the Associated Press Television-Radio Association of California and Nevada, the California Chicano News Media Association, and the San Diego Press Club. She won the Sol Price Prize for Responsible Journalism in 2009 from the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about high school students smuggling people and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border. Prior to venturing into the wonderful world of public radio, Amy worked for Yahoo! Inc. for nearly five years as an editorial surfer, associate producer and broadcast communications manager. She majored in Latin American History at Williams College. She grew up in San Diego and made frequent trips south of the border.

See stories by Amy Isackson