More Latinos Register to Vote, But Turnout 'Not What It Could Be'

By DANIEL YI and RAY HERNDON

Dec. 25, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Orange County Latino voters, their ranks boosted by years of aggressive registration efforts, went to the polls in record numbers this last election. But despite the gains, Latinos still posted lower voter turnout than the general population.

An analysis of voter registration records shows that the number of Latino registered voters in the county increased by 28% since 1996 to 166,848 this year. The number of overall registered voters grew by a much more modest margin of 6%, to 1,346,887.

The rising clout of Latino voters in Orange County was evident in November, when the number of Latino elected officials in the county rose by at least seven. The county now has more than 30.

More Latinos than ever before, 106,320, cast ballots in the Nov. 7 election countywide. The turnout was 64%, an increase over four years ago but still short of the 72% countywide turnout.

“One of our biggest frustrations is that the turnout is not what it could be,” said Nativo Lopez, a Latino community activist who won reelection to the Santa Ana school board by just 421 votes. “If you want to see changes, you must avail yourself of the opportunities you have created.”

Observers cite new voters’ unfamiliarity with the electoral process as one of several reasons more Latinos didn’t hit the polls.

“If you are working usually more than 40 hours a week and trying to survive, the last thing on your mind is to vote,” said Fred Smoller, an associate professor of political science at Chapman University.

Latinos now account for 12% of registered voters in Orange County. Democrats comprise 54% of that total, compared with 28% Republican and 18% independents. Overall, county registered voters are 49% Republican, 32% Democrat and 19% independent.

Despite the lower turnout and relatively small numbers, the growth of registered Latino voters has had a clear effect on local elections, political observers say, especially in the northern part of the county with large Latino populations:

In Santa Ana, Jose Solorio, a former city planning commissioner, and Claudia Alvarez, a deputy district attorney, became the newest Latino members of the City Council, joining Mayor Miguel A. Pulido, who won reelection. In the city’s school district, teacher Sal Tinajero joined an already-Latino majority on the board.

In La Habra, longtime community activist Rose Espinoza became the first Latina elected to the City Council. Newcomer Don Garcia, a doctor, won a seat in the Anaheim City School District.

County GOP Chairman Thomas A. Fuentes was elected to the South Orange County Community College District after being appointed to the post in July. And Benny Hernandez, a Compton schoolteacher, was elected to the Anaheim Union High school board.

“I attribute my victory to God,” said Hernandez, 43. “But secondly, because of my Spanish surname. I believe that really helped me a lot.”

Hernandez twice ran unsuccessfully for the seat, and this year he took a low-key approach. He spent $8 on a box of electrical ties and hung about 70 campaign signs left over from his previous races, just three days before the election. And he prayed. Latino voter registration tipped the scales, he said.

Before the election, “I approached my relatives” for support, he said. “ ‘Are you going to vote for me?’ I’d ask. And they would say, ‘Well, how do I vote?’ I couldn’t believe it. They were all citizens, eligible to vote, and had never voted before. Nobody had approached them.”

Hernandez got on to the task of registering his relatives and others who asked for help. Like Hernandez, many emerging Latino candidates are collecting votes by expanding the pool of voters likely to support them.

“We are reaping the benefits of our own hard work,” said John Palacio, who was elected to the Santa Ana Unified school board in 1998 and is active in Latino voter registration efforts. The upsurge of Latino political power signals the changing complexion of the electorate in an increasingly diverse county. Latinos and Asians are the fastest-growing populations in Orange County. In the last decade, the local Latino population grew by 41% and Asians by 46%, according to census estimates. Latinos account for 29% of the total county population and Asians, 13%.

Orange County is part of a larger political trend slowly sweeping the state and the country. According to William C. Velasquez Institute, a San Antonio-based public policy and research organization, the number of Latino registered voters in California and the country grew by about 17% from 1996. There are 2.3 million Latino registered voters in the state, 7.7 million in the country.

In California, backlash from Proposition 187, the 1994 anti-immigration measure, has compelled many Latinos to register, political analysts say. The law that sought to bar immigrants from many public services eventually languished in the courts, but for the heavily immigrant Latino community it was a call to get politically involved.

“There is a movimiento [movement] happening,” said Espinoza, the La Habra councilwoman who finally won this year after three previous attempts. “We have a long way to go, but we are picking up people as we go.”

The trend is likely to continue as more immigrants become naturalized citizens and their children reach voting age, said Smoller, the Chapman University professor. “It will be a force to [be] reckoned with,” he said.

County records show that 29% of Latinos who registered to vote this year were born in Mexico. Latino registrants also are more likely to be new to the political process. Of the 166,848 registered Latinos, 28% joined the rolls this year compared to 20% for all registered voters.

An electorate that is so dependent on newcomers has its downside, however. They are unfamiliar with the system and less likely to exercise the right they have just earned.

“I didn’t know where I was supposed to go,” said Mariano Alcala, 32, a naturalized citizen who registered to vote in October. “I didn’t receive anything in the mail, so I didn’t vote.”

The Garden Grove resident said he wanted to vote, but didn’t realize he could request a ballot at the polling station.

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Latino Voter Rolls Up

Aggressive registration efforts in Orange County have increased the number of Latino voters. Turnout, however, lags countywide rate.

Orange County Registered Voters

1992

Latinos: 8.2%

Non-Latinos: 91.8%

1996

Latinos: 10.2%

Non-Latinos: 89.9%

2000