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Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Posted ByAdam J. Segalat 05:59 PM | Leave a Comment | Print | | Send mail The two major Spanish-language television networks in the U.S. launched competing voter registration/moblization efforts. Competition can be great, and I hope there is a giant race to register Hispanic voters because it would be good for the Hispanic community and good for the country.
These TV networks reach millions of people each day. I've seen how one mention of an important issue and a phone number during their programming can convert to hundreds, possibly thousands of direct actions. So if they put lots of time, energy and money into the programs they'll be very helpful. Last month, Telemundo and mun2 launched "Vota Por Tu Futuro" along with Rock the Vote, People for the American Way's DemocraciaUSA, League of Unitd Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and the U.S. Hispanic Leaderhip Institute (USHLI) at a press conference staged at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. And today, Univision Communications Inc. and partners announced their own coalition effort -- Ya es Hora, ¡Ve y Vota! (It’s Time, Go Vote!) -- at a press conference at the National Press Club (sound familiar?). The other coalition partners so far are Entravision Communications, ImpreMedia, Mi Familia Vota Educational Fund, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, as well as the National Council of La Raza (NCLR). They're billing it as the "a non-partisan national voter mobilization effort targeting U.S. Hispanics" seeking "to significantly increase Latino voter registration and turnout in the 2008 presidential elections through an unprecedented multi-media campaign that encompasses grassroots, print and broadcast outreach." La Politica has done a terrific job of quickly reporting these announcements so they can reach a broader audience. |
It will be interesting to see how many they actually register to vote. In 1999-2001 I registerd about 150 Hispanics, about 300 total of all groups. This fall, I've only registered 4 Hispanics, 13 total. I'm just not doing as much as I did back then.
I've talked to a large number of Hispanics in Aurora IL. I don't sense any awareness of registering to vote or voting from those not already involved. Of course that is not different than the non-Hispanic population.
The big issue is a new abortion clinic opening to serve the Hispanic community ... It is clearly targeted at population control with the pro-abortion people mouthing the typical Malthusian-Sanger cliches.
Large numbers of Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents have pro-life yard signs ... especially the large number of evangelical/pentecostal Hispanics and non-Hispanics. But I don't sense any interest in these pro-lifers in registering to vote. In contrast, the population-control people are probably the ones with the highest percentage of voter turnout on election day. The politicians regulating zoning, etc know who votes and who they need to listen to.