Thread: LA RAZA Widening the Road to Civic Engagement

http://www.gwsae.org/executiveupdate/20 ... dening.htm

This report has some interesting facts and information

Widening the Road to Civic Engagement
With heightened focus on the important role played by the Latino community during the tight 2004 elections, the National Council of La Raza talks about how it plans to further grow and leverage its numbers into an even more powerful political base.

By Clarissa Martinez de Castro

Politicians, media pundits, and others widely discussed the influence of Latinos in the political process prior to the 2004 elections, often arriving at contradictory conclusions. Some predicted that Latino participation would have no effect, since most Hispanics are concentrated in non-"battleground" states, while others maintained that Latinos would dictate who the next president would be.

In the aftermath of the election, equally contradictory assessments have been made about Latino participation, the factors behind turnout, and the levels of support given to each candidate. The undisputed facts are that the Latino community, which stands at nearly 14 percent of the U.S. population, participated in this election in record numbers and sent a loud message that it is not an electorate to be taken for granted. And it did so despite multiple problems, ranging from inadequate information and assistance at the polls to outright harassment in many locations. This is the tip of the iceberg.

To those people concerned about achieving equitable participation and representation by this community in the American mainstream, as well as to those engaged in forecasting the future viability of political parties and candidates, fulfilling the potential of the Hispanic electorate remains a challenge and an opportunity. The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, is well aware of both.

Why Latinos Are Often Left Out
On November 2, 2004, with overall election participation unmatched since 1968, an unprecedented number of Latinos turned out to vote. Per all indications, it is safe to assume that at least 7.5 million Latinos voted in 2004, representing a startling 27 percent increase over 2000, and more than a doubling of the Hispanic electorate since 1988. While no single group may be able to claim casting the decisive vote in an electorate of more than 115 million voters, the Latino community undeniably demonstrated its influential role in American politics. And although debate continues about the levels of support each candidate received, most exit polls show that in both 2004 and 2000, President George W. Bush attracted a substantial and increasing share of the Latino vote, with current numbers placing support for Bush between 33 percent and 40 percent, and between 58 percent and 64 percent for Senator John Kerry (D-MA).

Yet even this remarkable turnout is far lower than what would occur if Latino voter registration and turnout rates were similar to those of whites and blacks. And although political parties and the media have paid much attention to the Latino vote lately, without long-term strategies that go beyond the short-lived spans of election seasons, this increased interest is unlikely to translate into a Latino electorate commensurate in size with the growth of this population.

Although this election cycle saw greater investment in bringing new voters into the process, the focus was on new registrants and mostly in contested states, an approach likely to perpetuate the cycle of nonparticipation by nontraditional or infrequent voters and many new Americans. This is particularly the case in emerging communities, where immigrant and Latino populations are still too small to attract the necessary investment from traditional campaigns to increase participation.

Similarly, many of the standard practices used by electoral mobilization campaigns, both partisan and nonpartisan, are not attuned to or operational in communities of mixed immigration status or in areas where preliminary connections need to be established to fully engage people in the process. Additionally, the issues that top the priority list of both of these communities remained largely absent in the national debate.

In sum, many of the activities during this electoral cycle continued to rely on "push-pull" strategies â€â€

Well, like I said, they've already built up that proverbial head of steam and will be a force to be reconned with.

It's very important to see who's "backing" them from deep in the background.

Similarly, many of the standard practices used by electoral mobilization campaigns, both partisan and nonpartisan, are not attuned to or operational in communities of mixed immigration status or in areas where preliminary connections need to be established to fully engage people in the process.

"Mixed immigration status?" Haven't heard that one before.
A few more good reasons to keep the pressure on.

Also, I thought that you had to be a US citizen to vote. Did I miss something in civics class??????