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Photo: Erich Hartmann/Magnum |
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Make Your Vote Count
Never before have Hispanics had such potential power to help decide who lives in the White House, resides in the governor's mansion, or sits on the local school board-the power to help shape public policy. But will they wield that influence? Longtime activists and advocacy organizations nationwide are feverishly working to educate Hispanics about their voting rights and encouraging them to take action at the polls. "People are truly understanding that voting is the ticket to respect and dignity," says Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the San Antonio, Texas-based Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP). Su voto es su voz-Your vote is your voice-has been the organization's motto for more than 30 years. Voting became a focus, Camarillo says, because founder William C. Velásquez understood that "unless we vote, anything that is positive about our community, any policies in favor of us or our culture could come under attack and be lost." In one national effort, SVREP and other Hispanic organizations are uniting to mobilize 2 million new Hispanic voters, raise the national total of registered Hispanic voters to 10 million, and achieve 7.5 million Hispanic votes cast in 2004. Ila Plasencia is an army of one.
For 40 years, she has been inviting people into her Des Moines, Iowa, home and into voting booths. She remembers being asked to host a get-together for a Democratic candidate during the Kennedy administration. "I invited all my Latino friends," says the 77-year-old, whose parents were born in Mexico. "That was the beginning, and I'm still at it." The energy still evident in her voice has served to mobilize the Hispanic community through coordinating Iowa's caucuses, co-chairing events such as the state's Brown-Black Presidential Forum, and organizing get-out-the-vote and absentee ballot campaigns. "It's true that our vote is our voice," she says. "Here in this country, you have to express how you feel. We have a voice and we want it heard. A large part of our population cannot vote. so it's up to old-timers like me to carry their voice and make it heard." Voting by Hispanics is imperative to ensure issues affecting them are addressed as policy is shaped, advocates say. Among the issues they cite are: Immigration Medicare Social Security Employment Getting to know the issues and the candidates is a vital part of the voting process, say get-out-the-vote organizers, and voters alike. In a survey of 1,400 Hispanic voters taken before the 2002 general election, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund (NALEO) found respondents were not motivated to vote because they did not know enough about candidates or find issues compelling enough to make them vote. They did see voting as "a private, individual act, as well as a demonstration of community solidarity," says Erica Bernal, the organization's director of civic education. "They wanted to vote for their personal benefit and to strengthen the Latino community." Ruth Borboa, 71, has been voting since she turned 18. The Tucson, Arizona, resident says Hispanics must know the issues to make their vote truly count. "Some of their votes could help with problems like prescription drugs, and I worry about Social Security," she says. "A lot of people don't know about those things and they need to be educated." Georgia Latino Vote 2004, a coalition of organizations, registers Hispanics and educates them about topics ranging from how to use new voting machines and what identification is needed to vote, to health care and immigration. "Latinos are concerned with human rights, language barriers, access to services like health care, and the education of their youth," says Delma De La Fuente, deputy director of coalition member Georgians for Health Care. But Mexican-born Luis González, 56, also cares about abortion and same-sex marriage. "I've never voted with my wallet," says the resident of Shambley, Georgia, adding he will vote his conscience in November. His wife, María Margarita González, 51, has immigration and the economy at the top of her list, but will vote for candidates she believes will keep their promises and who have high moral standards. "Voting is also important because as Latinas, we need more employment opportunities, the same opportunities men have," she says. The opportunity to vote is important to Horacio Sequeira, 65. He says he didn't find true democracy in his native Nicaragua, where "even if you don't vote, you know who will be elected." Here, however, he, his wife, and four children vote consistently and he promotes democracy in other ways. Since becoming a U.S. citizen on August 31, 1995, he has volunteered annually as a poll worker in his Ventura, California neighborhood. Seeing blank spaces next to Hispanic voters' names when the polls close bothers him. "The important thing to ask them is, 'Do you want benefits?' " he says. "It's by making yourself presente, by registering and voting, that you will make a difference." When he votes this year, candidates' views on health care, immigration, the environment, and "all that advances social and economic aspects of this country" will affect his decision, Sequeira says. Education needs to be on voters' lists, too, says Gabriela Lemus, vice president for policy and legislation for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). With two thirds of the Hispanic population younger than age 25, "it behooves [older Hispanics] to take care of these kids because they are the ones who will be taking care of them when they need a nurse, a doctor, or someone else to help them out." An important tool to help older Hispanics make their voices heard is the absentee ballot. Iowan Plasencia has been using it for years. "My friends will vote absentee," she says. "They won't go out in cold weather and they don't like to depend on others to take them to the polls, but they will fill out a form for a ballot and then send it in." Organizations such as AARP know that's true. Its state offices provide absentee ballot applications and the California office supports that state's permanent absentee ballot provision, under which voters need not re-apply. The organization's Hispanic voter outreach efforts include bilingual election recruitment brochures and, in the fall, Spanish-language voter guides for the presidential and other high-profile races. In Puerto Rico, voters will elect a new governor, resident commissioner, mayors, and members of the legislature in November. AARP's Puerto Rico office is educating voters about long-term care, consumer issues, home- and community-based services, and candidates' positions on the issues. In the Virgin Islands, AARP will teach voters how to use the new voting machines. Back in California, immigrant Sequeira cherishes the right to vote and wishes Hispanics would exercise that right. Doing so can have a profound effect, he says. "Sometimes your vote and your opinion can influence your children, your friends, and others in your family to vote. In that way, we all can have influence." If you have not yet registered to vote, you can obtain a voter registration form online. Click here and make your vote count. |
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