East Houston voter outreach group working to put Denver Harbor on the map through voting

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A voter outreach group is working to put Denver Harbor on the map, one voter at a time.

The nonprofit organization, known as Denver Harbor Cares, employs a variety of tactics, including data collection to improve civic engagement.

Their work, while important, has become risky in light of a bill allowing state officials to investigate illegal voter harvesting.

The attorney general's harvesting probe has actually led to armed authorities raiding the homes of political candidates and voter outreach volunteers.

Ryan Martinez, who was raised in Denver Harbor, recently graduated from Yale. He put his education to work back home and is working to connect with residents on a deeper level in an effort to promote change.

"It's something that's challenged us to really be careful about how we phrase things, the things that we publicize, and even the training we give our volunteers. Making sure we are emphasizing we are nonprofit, we are nonpartisan," Martinez, a Denver Harbor volunteer, said.

Martinez looks at each face-to-face encounter with Denver Harbor residents as a chance to remind them their vote could make it a place people are proud of.

"We are trying to convince them that their vote does matter and that the decision that they make ends up affecting how much funding we get for our ditches, for our streets, for our schools," Martinez said.

Martinez works side by side with Rene Porras, one of the founders of Denver Harbor Cares.

His longstanding restaurant Porras Prontito serves as the non-profit's unofficial headquarters.

"One precinct in the Heights outvotes four precincts in Denver Harbor," Porras said. "That is why we don't get attention."

Denver Harbor Cares takes a nonpartisan approach.

Yet efforts like there's have come under scrutiny in light of SB 1, a bill that made it a felony for voter outreach organizations to assist people "in the presence of the ballot" or during the voting process.

On Tuesday, the most conservative appellate court in the US handed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton a win when it ruled that he can continue probing allegations of vote harvesting, a move activists say is an effort to suppress Latino voters.

Martinez said it's why they moved away from helping people actually register and let organizations with more resources take that on.

"And even the legal help to make sure they are navigating and training their canvassers the right way to make sure they comply with whatever guidance comes from the attorney general's office," Martinez said.

"Does it scare you to do the work?" ABC13 reporter Alex Bozarjian asked.

"No, not really. When I hear stuff like that, it actually gets me fired up to get out there," Porras replied.

According to Martinez's data collection, Denver Harbor has roughly 7,000 registered voters, but it's the 4,100 who rarely vote if ever that the organization is targeting.

"Sometimes it can be hard to grasp how just checking a simple box on a ballot turns into these consequential decisions, but they do," Martinez said.

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