GALEO Launches Georgia Latino Vote
from staff reports

ATLANTA - The Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) has launched a campaign to get Hispanics to the polls.

The "nonpartisan" Georgia Latino Vote initiative for the 2007 and 2008 election cycles includes a bilingual Web site and voter education and voter information hotline. The Web site and the toll free hotline will be central tools in educating the Latino electorate about the upcoming elections in 2007 and 2008, according to GALEO. These ongoing efforts have been in partnership with the Hispanic Committee in Gainesville , among many other local groups.

EsLaHora.com (English Translation: "It's time.") provides information in Spanish and English to ensure Latinos in Georgia will become more engaged and educated voters. The Web site will also be the "central portal for volunteer opportunities for anyone interested in starting local community voter registration drives or to join an existing team." GALEO says it will continue to evolve with additional information and toolkits during the next few months. The Web site also contains information about how Legal Permanent Residents can become U.S. citizens.

"These efforts continue to fulfill GALEO's mission of ensuring greater civic engagement of the Latino community in Georgia," said Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALEO. "We work with many local organizations and groups across the state to ensure voter information is available in both English and Spanish."

Voter registration teams are now formed in the following counties: Bibb, Chatham, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Hall and Whitfield counties. Team leaders are posted on the Web site.

The initial distribution of voter registration information will begin this Saturday at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta.

"There is a lot of enthusiasm amongst the Latino community to ensure our voice is heard by elected officials and candidates," Gonzalez said. "During the recent national debate on immigration, a lot of rhetoric and disinformation was used by politicians. The Latino community was listening. The important thing is going to be that we will also remember when it comes time to vote during the upcoming elections."