U.S. Hispanic activists laid out plans on Friday to register 2 million new Latino voters to boost the clout of the United States’ fastest-growing voter bloc in the November presidential election.
Organizers representing more than 100 grass-roots Hispanic organizations from a dozen states met in Los Angeles to fine-tune a drive to get Latinos to sign up and vote in the November 4 election.
Hispanics account for about 9 percent of the U.S. electorate and are the nation’s fastest growing minority group. They could be a critical swing voting bloc in battleground states like Florida and those in the Southwest.
Organizers of the initiative say activists will seek to register voters through community-based drives, focused on battleground states such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico that they say have been overlooked by both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
“The candidates have articulated generally well on the issues that relate to Latinos, but have insufficiently invested in our community in terms of campaign operations on the ground in those battleground sates,” said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican-American Political Association.
In recent weeks both McCain and Obama have addressed several national Hispanic organizations in their hunt for votes, stressing economic and educational proposals they said would help Latinos as well as reviving plans for a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws.
In 2004, President George W. Bush won about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote — a Republican record — in defeating Democrat John Kerry. But opinion polls show Republican standing among Latinos has since been hurt by a shrill debate over immigration reform.
Last year, Republican lawmakers killed a bipartisan bill in the Senate that would have offered many of the estimated 12 million, mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants, a path to citizenship, along with tighter enforcement. It had been backed by both McCain and Obama.
The drive to encourage Latinos to vote began in earnest last year after hundreds of thousands of Hispanics marched through the streets of many U.S. cities calling for an overhaul of immigration laws.
Popularity: 20% [?]
August 1st, 2008 at 11:17 am
I have a question that is something I had never thought of in our efforts to register more Hispanics each election. A friend said to me “The Hispanics will not vote for the Democrats because they are or were raised Catholic and therefore the abortion issue is the main issue they are concerned with.” How valid is this point? If it is true, then I don’t see how we can ever overcome it since we are for Choice and this is against the Catholic Church’s position on abortion.
I hope someone can give a hopeful answer. I truly believe we need the Hispannic vote to elect Barack Obama President.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Because we are pro choice means that we can exercise our right to practice our religous beliefs. In America we are free to make our choice, unlike many countries where the Catholic church dictates what we can and cannot do. This is what sets the USA apart from many less free countries; the separation of Church and State. Obama is fighting harder to protect our families against the racism and hatred towards us. I believe that the GOP is only giving lip service regarding citizenship & have no intentions of implementing citizenship to our families. The abuses to our families barely make headlines and it is time to stand up. NO MORE Bush/McCAin. They have had years to try and solve this issue and so far, just more of the same. Obama is a breath of fresh air and appears to have the intelligence to grasp the complicated issues that face our people.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Republicans don’t give a damn about minorities! They way Hispanics are treated by the GOP is disgusting…they’ll exploit you for cheap labor, yet they publicly state that they don’t want immigrants here. The choice is CLEAR for me…Obama in 2008!