Campaign wants to register 500,000 immigrant voters

By JUAN ESPARZA LOERA / Vida En El Valle
(Published Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 09:10AM)

A national alliance of pro-immigrant organizations has launched a campaign to register 500,000 new Latino, Asian and immigrant voters -- including 39,500 in California -- in time for the November general election.

Organizers hope the move will inspire voters who are more likely to be overlooked by campaigns and susceptible to being disenfranchised to become "informed, invited and motivated" to vote on election day.

"There is a lot at stake for our community," said Erica Bernal, senior director of civic engagement for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund. "We are pooling our resources and energy to turn out as many immigrant voters as we can."

Bernal's group is among those involved in the We Are America Alliance, which will target 13 states -- California, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, New México, Pennsylvania and Virginia -- in an effort to inspire 10 million Latinos to vote.

The alliance -- whose slogan is 'My Vote, Our Future. Millions standing up for the American Dream' -- hopes to build on the increased priority by immigrant residents to become naturalized citizens and earn the right to vote following the 2006 immigration rallies and the fallout from failed immigration reform.

That enthusiasm, said alliance members, is reflected in studies that show that 70 percent of Latino registered voters cast a vote in their state primary.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the number of Latinos eligible to vote increased from about 14 million in 2000 to 17 million in 2006. However, only 7.6 million Latinos cast a vote in 2006, the center said.

"The largest obstacle for our community is lack of information," said Bernal during a telephone conference call last Thursday.

She also listed the lack of information in Spanish for many who are English-limited. "Sometimes, there is a portion of the community that is largely mobile. We are developing tools and resources that will put information in people's hands," said Bernal.

Holli Holiday, the alliance's executive director, said the country needs to get more immigrant voters involved.

"The participation of these communities is essential to the American democratic process," she said. "We will focus on low-propensity voters. We will educate them about their rights in participating in our democracy, and ensure that participation is at its highest."

Angélica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Ángeles (CHIRLA), said the immigrant community vote is more important today in light of federal immigration raids at workplaces and the failure of immigration reform.

"This is tied to our belief in our vision that vibrant civic participation is connected to our goal of advancing the rights of immigrants," said Salas.

Send e-mail to: jesparza@vidaenelvalle.com