Registration Drive Targets Valley Latinos

Martha Erives had just stepped out of a Target store after finishing a tiring shift setting out merchandise Saturday when she was approached by a voting registration volunteer.

But rather than wave away the volunteer, Erives, 39, eagerly started filling out a registration form. Although she came to the United States from Mexico 20 years ago, working and raising her four kids had kept her busy, and Erives became a U.S. citizen only last year.

Before then, Erives said, she felt powerless and envied citizens who could vote. Now, the Sun Valley resident is eager to vote for the first time in the November presidential election.

“I count now,” she said. “I can vote and let people know how I feel.”

Erives was one of about 250 people who registered to vote as part of a drive sponsored by the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project, a nonpartisan organization based in Texas that works to increase Latinos’ political clout.

The event marked the start of a monthlong effort to register 1,500 Latinos in Pacoima.

Similar drives also began Saturday in Canoga Park and North Hollywood, organizers said, as part of the group’s goal to add 6,000 to 10,000 Latinos to the voter registration rolls in the San Fernando Valley in time for the Nov. 7 general election.

The project aims to register 40,000 Latinos throughout Los Angeles. Nationwide, 13 million Latinos are eligible to vote, but only half are registered, project officials said.

In Pacoima, about 40 volunteers were trained at the Ritchie Valens Recreation Center on Saturday, where they were reminded not to register noncitizens or people on parole for a felony. Then they went searching for new voters at several busy stores and markets.

It was initially rough going for volunteer Georgina Leyva, 25, at a Target store. As she approached people with her clipboard and forms, most dismissively said they already had registered. Others said they weren’t citizens.

Leyva of Pacoima said she wants to get out the Latino vote.

“The more they vote, the more of a voice they’ll have,” she said.

Leyva soon found a taker in Adela Loera, who wasn’t sure which party to register under.

“What party was John Kennedy in? Who’s on the side of the Latinos? Kennedy was on their side,” said Loera, 35, of Pacoima, adding that she wanted to vote for candidates who would improve the lives of the poor, disabled and elderly.

Leyva held Loera’s crying 9-month-old daughter while explaining which politicians are Democrats and which Republicans. Loera’s 18-year-old sister, Maricela Molina, also registered, although she confessed she didn’t know who was running for office and never watched the news.

“Now I have to pay attention, to see what’s up,” she said.

Organizers expected to sign up many first-time voters.

“We may have one of the largest undercounts of registered voters. We live in an area of a lot of new citizens,” said Jose Luis Ramirez, a Mission College counselor coordinating the drive.

According to Southwest Voter officials, about 80,000 eligible Latinos in the Valley are not registered to vote. In another drive three years ago, the project tried to register 30,000 Latinos in the Valley but signed up only 10,000 by the time its money ran out.

On Saturday, the project registered a first-time voter in Ramon Rodriguez, 23, who said he’d had no interest in politics until he watched the Democratic National Convention on television last month.

“I didn’t think one vote would matter,” the Sun Valley man said. “Maybe my vote will make the difference.”

For information or to volunteer, call Pueblo y Salud Inc. at (818) 837-2272.