Group Promotes Latino Voter Participation : Elections: Nonpartisan organization based in Santa Ana hopes to increase registration, explain the issues involved in the elections and ensure that people follow through and show up at the polls.

The apathy, confusion and feelings of futility that keep many Latinos away from making a well-informed trip to the polls are like “an enormous monster” to Jess Araujo.

But Araujo has decided to slay the beast. Not just for next year’s election or the one after that, and not just for voters of a particular political persuasion.

The Santa Ana attorney, a musician and avid Harley rider, has launched the nonpartisan Latin American Voters of America to stimulate debate, educate potential voters in the Latino community and contribute to voter registration efforts.

“We wanted to make sure that Latino voters understand that just the act of voting per se personifies democracy,” Araujo said. In this country, “we have to create a strong tradition of voting. It doesn’t matter who you vote for.”

The fledgling bipartisan group is working with faculty at Cal State Fullerton to start a for-credit voter institute where students would register others to vote. It also plans to track Latino voters, come year’s end, to ensure they follow through and show up at the polls. It also hopes to begin publishing a nonpartisan newsletter on civic issues later this year, Araujo said.

Also on the group’s list of goals: sponsoring candidate debates and holding workshops to encourage the “social and career development” of Latinos.

Latino activist groups have long tried to beef up Latino voter registration, and the veteran Southwest Voter Registration Education Project launched a get-out-the-vote drive in Santa Ana for the last election, visiting more than 1,000 households. But LAVA leaders say their group is different.

“Education is the main thing. We can go get people to register, but if they don’t know what the heck they’re doing, it’s not going to help much,” said Lee Ramirez, a professor of English and Chicano studies at Rancho Santiago College and a LAVA board member. “Other organizations are doing voter registration. Now what we need to do is get the voter educated, so he knows what he’s doing when he gets there. Hopefully he’ll be a bit more motivated.”

The idea for the group germinated nearly three years ago, but members did not hold their kickoff gala until last November at Costa Mesa’s Center Club--a swank event attended by many of the county’s top Latino judges, educators and political players from both political parties.

Now, Araujo said, there are about 250 key financial contributors. A similar event is planned for Sacramento in April and Araujo said the group hopes by year’s end to branch out to San Antonio and El Paso, where he grew up.

The organization has even picked up support in recent months from several non-Latinos: Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi will be presented with a founding member’s certificate next week, and Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Maury Evans has also joined, Araujo said.

Key to the group’s recruitment efforts, however, is the chairman of its board of governors: actor Ricardo Montalban.

“Our community needs an organization that can address the pressing need to dramatically increase voter participation,”

Montalban wrote in a recent letter of acceptance. “Your desire to provide nonpartisan voter education in a forum which eliminates bias and is inclusive of everyone is long overdue.”

Montalban heads his own organization aimed at promoting Latinos in the entertainment industry, but has never before joined up with a group of this kind despite repeated queries, said Jerry Velasco, a spokesman for Montalban in Los Angeles.

“It’s just not convenient for him to get involved sometimes because he’s taking sides and he doesn’t know the leadership,” he said. “This is a bipartisan organization. If it had inclined to one side or the other, he never would have done it.”

Montalban plans to attend a fund-raising event this summer, Araujo said. But for now, his contributions include signing membership letters and certificates and lending the credibility to the group that Araujo feels it sorely needs to get started.

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Only 11% of California’s Latinos vote, according to Harry Pachon, president of the Tomas Rivera Center, a Claremont-based Latino think tank. That constant refrain about low voter turnout, despite get-out-the-vote efforts, has deeply disturbed Araujo, president of the Orange County Bar Foundation and author a bilingual book on legal rights.

“Every time I heard comments from friends or saw election results, it got harder to take,” said Araujo.

But some are treating LAVA with a bit of skepticism.

“Right now, we don’t see them in the big picture. There really hasn’t been any work from LAVA,” said Cynthia Contreras, a field organizer with the Montebello-based Southwest Voter Registration Education Project who attended the Center Club event.

“Being an organization that’s been around for 20 years doing this, we were surprised that they didn’t talk to us about this. . . . Why re-create something that already exists?”

But Contreras added that she welcomes LAVA’s help. For example, Santa Ana--more than 65% Latino--has no full-time registration effort in place.

“I think we need to revive a permanent project in Santa Ana, and if LAVA could be it, that would be great,” she said.

Others point out that as much help as possible is needed to foster civic participation.

“I think it’s a great idea and I wish them well,” said Dorianne Garcia, former chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Orange County, who also attended the November kickoff.

“We can do aggressive voter registration efforts and then we don’t have the time and effort to get them out to vote. We have a lot of Latinos who are registered to vote here in the county. What we need to do is go out and get them educated and to the polls.”

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For Rancho Santiago College trustee and early LAVA supporter Enriqueta Ramos, nothing has been more frustrating than watching registered voters who do not have the information to complete their civic duty and cast a ballot.

In last November’s election, many simply stayed home because Latino candidates they supported for the state Assembly and U.S. Congress were eliminated in the June primary.

“They actually stayed home and did not vote,” said Ramos. “We go around and we register people. Then there is no follow-up. We have to get people to make educated choices.”

Ramos said that LAVA forums held by analysts--not necessarily partisan candidates--will help voters understand the issues.

“When I first heard about it I got really excited. I thought, ‘This is what we’ve been needing for so long: educated voters,’ ” Ramos said. “We’re hoping that by 1996 there will be some kind of an impact.”