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Latino groups to launch massive voter registration
Source: Associated Press
Latino groups to launch massive voter registration
AP foreign, Thursday January 23 2014
LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
AP Hispanic Affairs Writer= MIAMI (AP) — Fewer than half of adult Latino citizens voted in the 2012 presidential elections, according to the U.S. Census, and that has prompted two national Latino organizations to step up voter registration efforts this year, months ahead of the 2014 elections.
National Council of La Raza and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund were set Thursday to launch a new campaign to register more than 250,000 voters. Traditionally voter registration drives get going in the spring and summer before the election. By starting in January, the groups hope to top their 2012 campaign of more than 180,000 registered voters.
"You have parties and campaigns that are trying to get their specific candidates elected. We look at voter registration and engagement another way. We look at it as a way for Latinos to have their voices heard on issues they care about," said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, who heads up NCLR's immigration and civic engagement campaigns. "Voter registration is not the end game. It's one piece of the puzzle."
Americans tend to register to vote and to turn out in higher numbers during presidential elections, but Martinez De Castro said the potential for Congress to take up immigration reform — combined with Latinos' frustration over the current gridlock — creates an additional emotional, as well as practical, incentive to vote.
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AP foreign, Thursday January 23 2014
LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
AP Hispanic Affairs Writer= MIAMI (AP) — Fewer than half of adult Latino citizens voted in the 2012 presidential elections, according to the U.S. Census, and that has prompted two national Latino organizations to step up voter registration efforts this year, months ahead of the 2014 elections.
National Council of La Raza and Mi Familia Vota Education Fund were set Thursday to launch a new campaign to register more than 250,000 voters. Traditionally voter registration drives get going in the spring and summer before the election. By starting in January, the groups hope to top their 2012 campaign of more than 180,000 registered voters.
"You have parties and campaigns that are trying to get their specific candidates elected. We look at voter registration and engagement another way. We look at it as a way for Latinos to have their voices heard on issues they care about," said Clarissa Martinez De Castro, who heads up NCLR's immigration and civic engagement campaigns. "Voter registration is not the end game. It's one piece of the puzzle."
Americans tend to register to vote and to turn out in higher numbers during presidential elections, but Martinez De Castro said the potential for Congress to take up immigration reform — combined with Latinos' frustration over the current gridlock — creates an additional emotional, as well as practical, incentive to vote.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/feedarticle/11161422
