An emerging force

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2006 | 8:46 a.m.

Clark County's Hispanic voters may be bringing more clout to the polls as their numbers increase among registered voters, the number of which is declining overall.

According to a recent story by the Las Vegas Sun, figures from the Clark County Election Department show that one in seven registered voters is Hispanic - a 10 percent increase over 2004. Sun reporter Timothy Pratt found that the number of Clark County voters with Hispanic surnames has risen to 86,963 this year, up from 78,620 in 2004. Given that the overall number of registered voters has declined, the increase in Hispanic voters represents a 14 percent jump.

That increase - along with the fact that 25 percent of the Las Vegas Valley's 1.8 million residents are Hispanic - represents a significant potential for political power. This is one of the reasons that the Democratic National Committee is considering making Nevada a national caucus site following Iowa, which is first. The Hispanic population also is overwhelmingly at the center of passionate national debate on immigration reform. Changes in the law, which would affect an estimated 11 million undocumented workers nationally - including about 105,000 in Nevada - should have been enacted before now. But Congress has dragged its feet, leaving the issue dangling before its spring break and, now, leaving it unresolved before its summer recess. It is unlikely a law will be hammered out before November's midterm elections.

But a Republican-backed House proposal that calls for border fences and making felons of immigrants already living here illegally, and which has no path for eventual U.S. citizenship, isn't likely to curry favor with the majority of Hispanic voters. That could affect November's election results even if no law is passed. Not even President Bush fully supports the GOP plan, leaning instead toward a Senate measure that does provide a process for obtaining legal citizenship.

Rather than trying to reach a compromise, the House is further stalling reform by taking its bill on a summer tour of community public hearings - none of which were scheduled in Nevada. Whether that sits well with Nevada's growing number of Hispanic voters will emerge at the polls. A 14 percent increase in that voting demographic is sure to elicit some kind of effect.

And those candidates who oppose guest-worker programs and who favor making criminals of people who come to the United States seeking better lives for their children, may not fare well. Hispanic voters are becoming a force to be reckoned with, and candidates who continue to ignore that community's needs could find themselves on the list of also-rans.