Registration Drive Seeks to Increase Latino Clout

Three years ago, the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project launched an ambitious campaign to add 30,000 Latino voters to the rolls in the San Fernando Valley.

The disappointing news was that only about 10,000 Latinos had been registered by the time the project ran out of money and shut its Reseda office in 1998.

The encouraging news for the nonpartisan organization dedicated to increasing the political clout of Latinos was that the increase was more than enough to send the Valley’s first Latino to the state Senate.

“I think at least 29 of them voted for me,” joked Richard Alarcon, who won the seat by a 29-vote margin.

Now, the Southwest group is looking to make another run at Valley Latinos, this time planning to open five offices but with a goal of adding 6,000 to 10,000 names to the voter rolls.

Antonio Gonzalez, president of the Texas-based organization, said the Valley remains a key focus of the group’s campaign in California because there are so many Latinos eligible to vote who have never gone to the ballot box.

“It’s a big turf,” Gonzalez said. “It has a big concentration of unregistered Latinos. Historically, the Eastside has gotten a lot of attention in voter registration. But we are giving more attention now to the Valley.”

The number of Latinos registered to vote increased during the last drive, from 52,000 to about 62,000. But with more people moving in, the number of unregistered Latinos has also increased since 1997, from 70,000 to about 80,000, said Ruben Villarreal, who headed the Valley project in 1997 and 1998.

That, Latino leaders say, is a huge pool of untapped political might.

“What it does is expand the influence of the Latino community,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not all about electing Latinos. By registering more, we are making sure that their views are listened to.”

But there is no question that past voter registration drives in the Valley also have helped elect more Latinos. In recent years, the Valley has elected its first Latinos to the Los Angeles City Council and the Assembly, as well as the state Senate.

“America’s democracy is tied to voter responsibility, so any group that doesn’t vote, to the extent they don’t vote, they diminish their ability to affect the democratic process,” Alarcon said.

That is the message that project volunteers plan to bring to Valley churches, schools and supermarkets beginning in July.

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As it did two years ago, the project will show videotapes produced for the MTV Rock the Vote campaign in high schools and college classes.

For young Latinos, the biggest obstacle to registering is apathy, Villarreal said. Many do not believe their vote will count or make things better.

“It’s a lack of credibility by the political system and the politicians,” he said.

For older Latinos, the issue is simply getting them information on registering since many have never been contacted about voting, Villarreal said.

While there appears to be no close legislative race in the Valley, project officials say they believe the presidential contest will spark more interest among Latinos and help get more to register.

In fact, the campaigns of both Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush are aggressively courting the Latino vote this year.

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Bush, the governor of Texas, has made a strong showing among Latinos in his home state. “It’s a model we hope to replicate in California,” said Margita Thompson, a campaign spokeswoman. “They are extremely important to the campaign. There is a demographic reality.”

Although the vast majority of Latino voters are Democrats, as they enter the growing Latino middle-class an increasing number have joined the Republican Party.

Exit polling by The Times during this month’s presidential primary found just 7% of Latino voters turned out to cast ballots statewide, even though Latinos represent about 30% of the state’s population. The turnout is down from the 12% who went to the polls during the 1998 primary.

Despite a blitz of Spanish-language television ads, Bush was unable to garner strong support from the state’s Latinos, who voted for Gore over Bush by a 2-to-1 margin.

Because it is nonpartisan and not tied to any candidate, the Southwest Voter Registration and Educational Project is concerned only that more Latinos cast ballots, not for whom they vote.

With that focus, the project’s new Valley effort will be more narrowly targeted than its last effort, with volunteers focusing on San Fernando, Pacoima, Canoga Park and North Hollywood, where there is a growing, untapped Central American community.

“Instead of having one big project for the whole Valley, we are going to target communities,” Villarreal said.

But this year’s campaign also could affect the number of Latinos elected in the future. Project officials just met in Palm Springs on the importance of 2000 as a census year, and the impending redistricting, which will be based in part on Latino voter registration.

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Alan Clayton of the Los Angeles City/County Latino Redistricting Coalition said the registration drive could have a significant impact on the process, increasing the likelihood of a second City Council district where a Latino would have a good chance of getting elected.

“There is a potential for one other seat in the future where Latinos could get elected,” Clayton said.

That is borne out by the changes in voter registration in the 7th Council District and 39th Assembly District.

In 1992, the Assembly district had 28% registered voters with Spanish surnames. In 1998, after intensive voter registration efforts, it had 44% Latino voters, including Tony Cardenas, the first Latino elected to the seat.

Latino voter registration in the 7th Council District, held by Alex Padilla, went from 31% in 1991 to 48% today.

“It’s a safe seat for Latinos as long as you do a pretty good job of getting out the vote,” Clayton said.

In past redistricting processes, civil rights activists have argued against fragmenting concentrations of Latino voters.

That will happen again, Clayton said.

“Any time you register more voters, it has the potential of having a major impact,” he said.

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The Latino Vote

Selected San Fernando Valley Assembly districts, increases in Latino voter registration.

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Source: Los Angeles City-County Latino Redistricting Coalition, based on survey of Spanish surnames in voter registration rolls.