Thread: Hispanics struggle to find clout at polls

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Hispanics struggle to find clout at polls
Victor Manuel Ramos
Sentinel Staff Writer

July 30, 2006

Hundreds of thousands of Hispanics nationwide marched this spring to the slogan, "Today we march. Tomorrow we vote."

But, with the Aug. 7 deadline for voter registration just days away, election-office records in the seven Central Florida counties show the share of Hispanic voters remains at about 10 percent of the registered population.

As less than half -- or about 200,000 -- of the nearly half-million Hispanics in Central Florida have signed up to vote, community organizations are stepping up efforts to register voters.

At Latino Leadership's annual Central Florida Community Information Fair at Oak Ridge High School on Saturday, several people visited the voter-information table.

Griselda Abdelbary, 37, who moved to Orlando from New Jersey about a year ago, picked up registration forms for herself and her husband. "I've always voted . . . to have a voice," she said in Spanish. "It's very important because sometimes it's the only way one can tell politicians how the public feels."

Abdelbary said events that have materials in Spanish are helpful in registering Hispanics.

"It's difficult integrating into the political system if one doesn't understand the language," she said. "Having a person to help them makes it much easier to learn."

In November, Florida voters will chose a governor, state officers, a U.S. senator and members of Congress, which is in the middle of a heated debate about illegal immigration.

'When is it going to hit'?

"We haven't had much of voter registrations coming to our office. I am kind of nervous about it because I am wondering when is it going to hit," said Susan Scatliffe, a customer-service manager with the Orange County Supervisor of Elections. "I remember [advocacy] groups like 'ACORN' and 'Mi Familia Vota' bringing boxes of applications in other years, but it's not happening now."

Voter-registration records show:

The number of registered Hispanics in Central Florida grew by more than 9,000 since last year, but gains in some counties were partly offset by the routine purging of inactive voters, duplicates and people who had moved off voter rolls.

"Some have moved without notifying us or perhaps are even deceased -- any numbers of those kinds of things," said Donna Bryant, Osceola's supervisor of elections.

Orange, Lake, Polk and Seminole saw net gains during the past year, ranging from several hundred to thousands of Hispanic voters. Brevard, Osceola and Volusia saw a drop.

The number of registered voters decreased for the overall population in Central Florida, giving Hispanics a slightly larger proportion of eligible registered voters in Orange, Osceola, Polk and Seminole.

Latino Leadership, an Orlando-based Hispanic advocacy organization that started as a voter-registration group years ago, recently held focus groups to discuss political participation.

"One of the things repeated over and over in our focus groups was that people felt they didn't know exactly what the issues were or what they would be voting for," said Marucci Beard, Latino Leadership's vice president of development.

Many challenges

Motivating voters in the Hispanic community to go to the polls is just one challenge, organizers say. Even more difficult: helping eligible immigrants become U.S. citizens, then getting those who are citizens to register.

The Orlando group has set a target of registering 750 more Hispanics by Election Day.

Janet Vazquez of Winter Park is one of the more than 7,000 Hispanic voters who registered in Orange County since last year. She filled out her form at the urging of Latino Leadership when she went to its office seeking information a month ago. She moved here recently from Puerto Rico.

Vazquez said voting was the furthest thing from her mind as she worried about getting a job and learning English. But it made sense to her that voting could help Hispanics have a better life. She also encouraged her husband and daughter to register.

"We all want a better quality of life," Vazquez said, "like everybody else."

Democracia USA, a Miami-based group formerly known as "Mi Familia Vota," is looking beyond this year to the 2008 presidential election. It opened an Orlando office earlier this year to work on Hispanic voter enrollment and education. The group changed its name last week as it also launched efforts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Arizona -- areas where Hispanic issues have picked up momentum.

Democracia USA registered 72,000 Hispanic voters in Florida for the 2004 presidential election. It plans to register an additional 77,000 Hispanic voters in the state in the next year, said Jorge Mursuli, the group's national executive director.

Focusing on Osceola

Democracia USA's Central Florida efforts are focused on Osceola County. The number of Hispanics is increasing rapidly there, and a pending federal lawsuit seeks to reform county elections to allow the community more political representation. But the group also is mobilizing in places such as Avon Park and Palm Bay to counter proposals to restrict illegal immigration.

"It's still early," Mursuli said. "The thing about this immigration movement is that it is very organic and it came from the grass roots, and I think now we are trying to go through the transition between protests and getting those people to the polls."

Maria Jimenez, an activist with the Centro Campesino, a Hispanic farmworkers ministry in Auburndale, was one of a handful of volunteers who gathered after the recent marches to start a voter-registration drive.

They scattered for a month through Auburndale, Winter Haven, Haines City and other small towns and cities with growing Mexican communities in Polk County. They came back with fewer than a hundred new voters and decided to put the drive on hold.

"I did go to my site once a week. You have to stand out there in the heat and talk to people, but I guess it's worth it," Jimenez said. "We are educating the public in regards to the importance of what it means to be eligible to vote and what they need to do to go from being residents to becoming citizens."

Less than half in Central Florida are registered, so groups are ramping up efforts.

Mariana Minaya of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Victor Manuel Ramos can be reached at vramos@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-6186.

As less than half -- or about 200,000 -- of the nearly half-million Hispanics in Central Florida have signed up to vote, community organizations are stepping up efforts to register voters.

Might be a good indicator of the number of illegals.

Also, please make sure my nephew is registered. He lives in the Orlando area and he's Hispanic and anti-illegal immigration.

Dixie

Hispanics struggle to find clout at polls

Motivating voters in the Hispanic community to go to the polls is just one challenge, organizers say. Even more difficult: helping eligible immigrants become U.S. citizens, then getting those who are citizens to register.

Seems quite racist to me. Why not encourage all American Citizens to register and vote?

"One of the things repeated over and over in our focus groups was that people felt they didn't know exactly what the issues were or what they would be voting for,"

If they don't understand English, then they merely become pawns at the hands of people who TELL them who or what to vote for. This is one of the most important reasons for knowing English. You CANNOT understand the political discourse if you don't understand the language. You might as well let 7 year olds vote, because they will understand about as much.

The attitude that enforcing illegal immigration is racist is an insult to Latino character.

If you go to a public building these days you will find ramps for wheelchairs because the handicapped would have trouble negotiating stairs.

Anyone who argues opposition to an amnesty is racist is making an accusation that Latinos are morally handicapped and must be accomodated by us even though their own countries have their own stricter immigraton laws.

Originally Posted by Victor Manuel Ramos Sentinel Staff Writer

Motivating voters in the Hispanic community to go to the polls is just one challenge, organizers say. Even more difficult: helping eligible immigrants become U.S. citizens, then getting those who are citizens to register.

Mr. Ramos, are you a member of Communist La Raza? Did you personally help to register illegals to vote (illegally)? Did you witness the registering of illegals?

Originally Posted by Victor Manuel Ramos Sentinel Staff Writer

The Orlando group has set a target of registering 750 more Hispanics by Election Day.

Mr. Ramos, How many of these are illegals?

Originally Posted by Janet Vazquez

We all want a better quality of life," Vazquez said, "like everybody else."

Spoken like an illegal. Are you an illegal Ms. Vazquez?

Originally Posted by Victor Manuel Ramos Sentinel Staff Writer

Democracia USA registered 72,000 Hispanic voters in Florida for the 2004 presidential election.

How many of these are illegals, Mr. Ramos? Hmmmm?
Is Democracia USA a COMMUNIST FRONT ORGANIZATION?

Socialism - is the dictatorship of the proletariat which is a government organized for the defense of survival "rights".
Distribution goes by the principle " from each according to his/her ability , to each according to his/her work

Communism stage is when the government dissapears and there is economic cooperation as well .
The principle of distribution becomes " from each according to his/her ability , to each according to his/her need

Mexico has socialist ideas , but they are trying to push them to the communist stage here - " to each according to his/her need ".
This is what they are trying to push in America - we do not have ability , but we have needs .

That group looks like a socialist group to me so far .

Hundreds of thousands of Hispanics nationwide marched this spring to the slogan, "Today we march. Tomorrow we vote."

Instead of the above quote, how about we put signs together saying, "Today you marched. Tomorrow you are going home."