http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/19936.php

Published: 07.21.2006
Voter registration effort Saturday targets Hispanics in Tucson
By CLAUDINE LoMONACO
Tucson Citizen
My Family Votes/Mi Familia Vota, a national non-partisan voter education and registration project, will hold an Hispanic voter drive and citizenship fair in Tucson on Saturday.
The fair will target U.S. residents eligible to become citizens, U.S. citizens who have not yet registered to vote, and registered voters who can sign up to vote by mail, said Joel Foster, a Mi Familia Vota spokesman.
The project aims to increase the traditionally low voter turnout rate for Hispanics, both in the short term - through voter registration - and long term - through encouraging residents to apply for citizenship, Foster said.
"The more Latinos vote, the more politicians will pay attention to their needs and wants," Foster said.
In 2002, Arizona had about 500,000 potentially eligible Hispanic voters who had not registered, he said.
"It's time to have as many of those people vote as possible to increase the amount of political power the Latino community has in Arizona," he said.
This will be one of the project's first Arizona events.
Mi Familia Vota began in Florida where it registered 72,000 new voters for the 2004 presidential election.
This summer it is kicking off new campaigns in Florida, Arizona, and Pennsylvania, where it hopes to register 178,000 new voters for 2006.
The drive will be held from from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Service Employees International Union's Tucson office at 201 W. Cushing St. Lawyers will be on hand during the event to help determine citizenship eligibility.
During the afternoon, volunteers will take the voter registration drive to the street, canvassing grocery store parking lots and neighborhoods.
From 6:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Mi Familia Vota will host a political caravan at Armory Park, 220 S. Sixth Ave, where candidates in the 2006 election will speak and answer questions.
The caravan will give Hispanic voters a chance to learn about and meet the candidates, Foster said.