http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politic ... _vote.html
November 3, 2006

The Latino Vote
Posted by TOM BEVAN | E-Mail This | Permalink | Email RCP
Here's an interesting contrast. The Denver Post runs a front page story playing up the fact that 5,400 new Latinos have registered to vote in Colorado since July 1:

The number of Colorado Latinos who registered to vote has increased 3.5 percent since the beginning of 2005 - more than triple the rate of increase in non- Latino voters.
The majority of those new Latino voters - at least 5,400 - registered since July 1, when voter registration drives began seeking new Latino voters after spring rallies for immigrant rights.

Advocates for immigrants and Latinos say the tally is a snapshot of what can be done as they work to build a stronger political force leading to the 2008 presidential election.

"We realize that you can't win on your issues unless you have a strong voter turnout because that is what Congress listens to," said Brent Wilkes, executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "The issue of immigration has really galvanized people to vote."

The Houston Chronicle, on the other hand, reports that immigration-rights activists in Latino-rich Texas aren't having nearly the success they had hoped:

"Today we march, tomorrow we vote" was the endless refrain as hundreds of thousands of Hispanics spilled onto the streets of Houston, Los Angeles and other cities last spring in protest of a House bill aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.
But with Tuesday's election approaching, immigrant-rights activists are nowhere close to delivering on their vow to add a million or more Hispanics to voter rolls in Texas and across the United States. [snip]

"I haven't seen anything relative to voter registration that is occurring as a result of the marches," said Milwaukee election commissioner Sue Edmond. Her comments were echoed by Danny Clayton, supervisor of voter registration in Dallas County.

Texas, which with California accounts for the lion's share of the national Hispanic vote, posted a gain of 96,023 voters with Spanish-sounding surnames from February to mid-October, according to the Secretary of State's Office. The increase was in line with the growth of registered voters overall, and the Hispanic share of Texas' 13.1 million registered voters remains unchanged at 21 percent, spokesman Scott Haywood said.

The Chronicle lists a number of reasons why the drive to register Latinos is so difficult: 12 million of the 43 million Hispanics in the U.S. are here illegally and can't vote, another 8 million are here legally but haven't taken advantage of citizenship eligibility, and one in three Hispanics in the U.S. is under the legal voting age of 18.