Outreach groups: Puerto Ricans in Central Florida registered to vote in 'historical' numbers
Aggressive efforts in the past year to register potential Puerto Rican voters in Central Florida has yielded an estimated 40,000 newly registered Boricuas this year, according to Hispanic outreach groups that touted the figure as unusually high for midterm-election year.
“It’s surprising to me,” said director Betsy Franceshini of Hispanic Federation in Florida. “I’ve been here for over 30 years and… it’s the first time I’m seeing this enthusiasm.”
Frustrated by media reports they argue don’t paint a full picture, the Latino voter outreach groups — including Respeta Mi Gente, Mi Familia Vota and Hispanic Federation — held a call with members of the media Wednesday to make the case for a surge of Puerto Ricans registering to vote.
“We want to push back against the reports that work is not getting done, that people are not registering,” said Frederick Vélez, an organizer with the non-partisan coalition Respeta Mi Gente. “We can say that the job is being done, that we are registering voters, and we’re having those conversations at the doors.”
Read more: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-ne-puerto-rican-voter-registration-20181010-story.html
