NJ Peruvians Will Vote at Red Bull Arena

The Consulate General of Peru in Paterson announced that Peruvians residing in New Jersey will cast their vote for their country’s general election at the Red Bull Arena, located at 40 Cape May St., in Harrison, Hudson County. Voters must attend on April 10 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

The diplomatic office issued a press release to let voters in New Jersey and Pennsylvania know that only Peruvians registered to vote and who present a valid Peruvian DNI (national identification document) will be able to exercise their right.

This is the first time that a Peruvian election will be held outside Paterson, the New Jersey city with the largest number of people from that country.

For former President of the Peruvian Parade María del Pilar Rivas, the location change may be due to the increased number of voters expected during this election.

“Traditionally, we have around 60,000 voters in New Jersey but, this year ‒ with the people coming in from Pennsylvania ‒ we are expecting more than 100,000. It seems to me that this is why they sought a larger venue,” said Rivas.

Rivas does not think that the change in location will negatively affect Peruvian businesses in Paterson ‒ mostly restaurants and bodegas ‒ because “Peruvians always come back to Paterson.”

Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey (Photo by Wally Gobetz, Creative Commons license)

Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey (Photo by Wally Gobetz, Creative Commons license)

Humberto Villanueva, Union City resident, said that he likes the change.

“It is not too drastic. In this country, it’s easy to get anywhere, especially inside the same state. If they would have asked us to go vote in Pennsylvania, it would have been more complicated. I wouldn’t go all the way there,” he said.

Fellow countryman Julio Ostolaza, who lives in Paterson, believes that the only people who might have a problem are those who lack transportation. He admitted that they would have a longer commute and might have to pay more to reach the voting site.

Meanwhile in New York City, the voting site will be set up at Queens College, located at 65-30 Kissena Blvd. in Flushing.

This time around, Peruvians will choose a president and two vice presidents, as well as representatives to Congress and the Andean Parliament.

It is worth noting that Peruvians living abroad are not represented with a seat in their country’s government. For this reason, they will vote to elect representatives for the department where the capital city of Lima is located.

The words of Paterson resident Luis Iturre may be an attempt to summarize the mood of Peruvians living in New Jersey: “We are tired of political ideology. That belongs in the ’70s and ’80s. All we want now is for the president and representatives to be honest people, because it is proven that college degrees and titles do not guarantee a good leader. We want corrupt people to stay away from power.”

*This story has been translated to English from Spanish by Voices of NY.