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Hispanics push to register voters

Forums to educate Oregonians about elections start July 1

BY JOSEPH B. FRAZIER
The Associated Press


June 19, 2006

PORTLAND -- During numerous spring rallies, including two in Salem that drew more than 8,000 protesters each, Oregon Hispanic advocates joined a national push to register 1 million new voters across the country before the November election in hopes that the contentious immigration issue will mobilize a sector that often doesn't cast ballots.

It includes a push to get millions of eligible residents to apply for citizenship so they can vote later if not this year.

On the heels of the huge rallies, the immigration-rights movement is preparing for workshops in July and the next big rally on Labor Day, suggesting that the voter-registration movement seems to be in high gear.

Aeryca Steinbauer of the Oregon group CAUSA said the hope is that enough new voters can be mobilized "to hold public officials accountable."

Oregon's farmworkers' union, the Woodburn-based Treeplanters and Farm Workers of the Northwest United, aka PCUN, also is taking part.

Data from the Department of Homeland Security indicate that interest in citizenship is rising.

In 2005, the government approved 600,366 naturalization applications, said Sharon Rummery, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman in San Francisco. This year, it is projected to be 685,000.

A total of 259,041 citizenship applications were approved in the first half of fiscal 2005, she said. In the first half of fiscal 2006, it was 316,557.

"There have been increases all across the board," she said.

Downloads of the N400 form for citizenship application also are up sharply.

The national We Are America Alliance, which formed in May, will begin its "Democracy Summer" on July 1 in Oregon with a series of community forums to tell people how to go about voting, to educate them about citizenship application scams and to talk about pending legislation, Steinbauer said.

The U.S. House and Senate are far apart on two immigration-bill proposals. Talks to find something both can support have not begun, and most people don't expect anything final before the end of summer.

Large gatherings are planned in major cities on Labor Day.

The issue has a high profile in Oregon in part because of the immigration stance taken by Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Saxton, who has advocated deportation of undocumented immigrants among other measures.

Undocumented residents number 11 million to 12 million nationally, and about 300,000 are thought to live in Oregon. Most are Hispanic, and most of those are from Mexico.

Steinbauer said target populations will include young Hispanics who were born here and are citizens. The hope, she said, is that they would want to vote "to defend their parents and their families" and would persuade others to register.

Nationally, the plan is to expand the Hispanic voter pool by getting more eligible people to apply for citizenship.

Although there likely is not time for most to become voters by November, "There's always 2008," Steinbauer said.

The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Immigration Statistics estimates that in 2004, there were about 8 million residents in the United States who had completed residency and other requirements and are eligible to apply for citizenship.

Requirements include being at least 18 and a permanent legal resident for at least five years.

In past Oregon elections, the Hispanic turnout has been relatively low. People running registration drives have blamed a lack of Spanish voting materials and a general mistrust of the electoral process as possible reasons.