Estylo Last Word Novmeber 2007 - Sign up and be counted, por fin! Vote 2008

It’s that time again, i.e. to elect a new president. With yet another opportunity to make our voices heard, now is the time to act, i.e. register to vote.

According to a recent report from the Pew Hispanic Center, 13 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population voted in 2006, an interim election that saw both houses of Congress taken from Republicans and handed to Democrats, accounting for 5.6 million votes. The good news is that number was a slight increase over 2002, the last presidential election. However, compared to the 39 percent of white voters and 27 percent of African American voters in 2006, Latino electoral participation still pales.

The report adds that there was also a marginal increase in Latino voter registration between 2002 and 2006, from 52 percent of eligible voters who registered to 54 percent. Again, the increased number of eligible white voters who registered, from 69 percent to 71 percent, dwarfs that number. The number of African American registered voters, however, declined.

The real tragedy is that we Latinos are not fulfilling our potential to influence elections and policy in Washington, D.C. because we don’t vote significantly. More mean-spirited legislation against illegal immigrants and their children will continue to flow, not only in the nation’s capital, but also at the local level in state houses, city councils and school boards, unless Latinos, who now populate the entire nation in record numbers, get to the polls.

Efforts by certain states to move up primary elections to February 5 or earlier will also afford Latinos an added opportunity to select the final presidential candidates. Currently, Florida, California, and New York—states with a substantial Latino populations—are considering the move.

To actually vote, however, requires a first step—registering. Many efforts have been tried to restrict access to voter registration cards or voting booths by requiring additional identification, and more will undoubtedly follow, but most have failed. Luckily, we have a Constitution that includes the Fourteenth and Twenty-Fourth amendments, which restrict poll taxes or similar efforts to prevent any citizen from his or her given right to vote.

To register to vote, contact your office of the Secretary of State or county voter registrar. You can also get more information from the Declare Yourself national voter registration outreach program, www.declareyourself.com. Christina Aguilera and America Ferrera are two Latin stars who have signed on as part of this program. For information in Spanish try Rock the Vote en español at http://www.rockthevote.com/rtv_espanol.php.

Shortly after the last census, Latinos became the largest ethnic minority, but we have yet to claim our power. Let’s do it already.