Effect of Hispanic vote muted

By Timothy Pratt

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

The growing Hispanic population in the Las Vegas Valley failed to have a major impact at the polls in the Sept. 7 primary, numbers released by a group working on registering and getting Hispanics to the polls show.

The results of the analysis came even as national and local groups focusing on the Hispanic vote in November's elections stepped up their efforts, because of Nevada's status as a so-called battleground, or undecided, state, and the large number of potential Hispanic voters.

Nevada's situation was also the subject of a story in Monday's Los Angeles Times, which described low Hispanic registration and turnout numbers when compared with population as a regional phenomenon also occurring in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona.

In Clark County, though there were 62,131 active registered Hispanic voters going into the primaries, making up 10.7 percent of the electorate, only 11,314 turned out to vote, or 7.6 percent of total turnout, said Andres Ramirez, state director for Voices for Working Families, a group that encourages voting by Hispanics and other minorities.

Additionally, though total turnout was at 148,869, or 25.6 percent of active registered voters, Hispanic turnout represented 18.6 percent of the Hispanic electorate, Ramirez said.

"This shows we need to continue educating the Latino community and mobilizing them to vote," he said.

The combination of events -- low numbers, higher-than-ever interest -- led David Damore, assistant professor at UNLV's political science department, to call the effort to bring Hispanic voters to the polls an "uphill battle ... that could take generations, instead of from one election to the next."

"If I could figure out this puzzle, I'd be making a lot of money," Damore said, referring to the fact that groups such as Voices for Working Families, Moving America Forward, Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and the local Latin Chamber of Commerce have all been trying to solve it.

And the list keeps growing. On Sept. 16, Joe Velasquez, a Washington-based consultant, launched a Democrat-leaning, Internet-based project called HispanicAction.com that aims to increase Hispanic voting rates in Nevada and four other states. The effort is expected to cost about $300,000.

Velasquez estimates there are 126,600 Hispanics in Nevada who are eligible to vote but haven't registered. He has an e-mail list of 13,000 that he is contacting about registering and getting out to vote, he said.

Velasquez, like Ramirez, uses last names in voter rolls in combination with census data to come up with estimates on numbers of Hispanic voters.

The political veteran, who served as deputy political director in the Clinton administration, said one of the problems in most elections until now is that candidates for both parties are not speaking to the issues Hispanics care about.

"Hispanics would have a major impact if they were given a reason to vote," Velasquez said.

"But in the whole country, their participation is low because elections are based on non-issues," he said.

Hispanics want to hear about education, jobs and health care, he said.

Velasquez said even Democrats -- who have traditionally been preferred by Hispanics 2-1 over Republicans -- must work harder at reaching out to that population or they will stay home come election day.

Ramirez said 64 percent of Hispanics voted Democratic in the September primaries, compared with 28 percent who voted Republican.

The Los Angeles Times article pointed out that the four southwest states with large Hispanic populations -- Nevada, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico are at least 20 percent Hispanic -- Gore carried about two-thirds of the Hispanic vote.

The problem has been getting more Hispanics to the polls.

Locally, the Latin Chamber of Commerce's government affairs committee is also turning its attention to the Hispanic voter, with a radio, television and newspaper campaign urging Hispanics to register and go to the polls.

The $100,000 campaign includes the unusual step of 3/4-page Spanish ads in English-language newspapers that will be published up to Oct. 31, said Tony Alamo, senior vice president of Mandalay Resort Group and a member of the Latin Chamber group.

A recent installment of the newspaper features a photo of a Hispanic family and says, "Vota Para Que Te Respeten," or "Vote so they respect you."

Alamo spoke to the Latin Chamber's monthly luncheon earlier this month on the subject and promoted the Hispanic vote on the local affiliate of the Univision television network on Friday.

"We have not been represented properly ... and if we want to get a seat at the table, we have to get out and vote," said Alamo, who is from Cuba.

When asked why turnout continues to be low despite increasing efforts such as his, he said he didn't know.

Later, he said that the cultural milieu of many Hispanics who are foreign-born leads them to believe their vote doesn't count for much.

Damore said the process of what he called "socialization" takes time.

"If your parents didn't (vote) and you didn't grow up with it ... it could almost take generations," Damore said.

"I think it's going to be a slow change over time," he said.

Ramirez pointed out that other minority groups have taken decades to gain their seat at the political table.

He also had an additional number up his sleeve -- of 146,999 voters who have registered since the October 2002 municipal elections, 20,259 were Hispanic, or 13.78 percent.

"That trend will continue," he said, "and (will) make Hispanics a political force in the next few election cycles."