FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
January 23, 2014 Camila Gallardo, NCLR
(305) 215-4259
cgallardo@nclr.org
Lizette Escobedo, MFV
(858) 583-5014
lizettee@mifamiliavota.org
Groups seek to register one-quarter of a million new Latino voters before midterm elections
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, NCLR (National Council of La Raza) and MFV Ed Fund (Mi Familia Vota Education Fund) launched the initial phase of their “Mobilize to Vote 2014” campaign, a joint effort to register over one-quarter of a million new Hispanic voters by the midterm elections.
The non-partisan campaign is designed to reach Latinos in areas of the country where their population growth has been significant, yet the greatest gaps exist between potential voters and actual voters. While Latinos have increased their electoral participation in the last decade, today there are almost as many eligible but inactive Latino voters (11.1 million) as active Latino voters (12.2 million). To help close this gap, NCLR and MFV Ed Fund are implementing a large-scale register-by-mail program targeting eligible Latino voters in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah, with plans under development to expand registration efforts to Florida and California.
“Latinos have had an indelible impact on the nation’s political landscape in recent elections, and their untapped potential may exert even greater influence. To fully leverage this potential, we must push to register as many eligible Latino voters as possible, particularly as we approach a midterm election that will no doubt have an impact on how issues important to our community—such as immigration reform—are addressed moving forward,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO of NCLR.
Approximately 8.6 million Latinos in the United States are eligible to vote, but have not yet registered; every month, nearly 64,000 young Latino citizens turn 18 and become newly eligible. That’s a treasure trove of potential voters whom are often not reached by traditional party or state outreach efforts. The mailings will target three pools of potential registrants—newly eligible 18 year olds, registered voters who have moved and need to re-register, and the broader Hispanic voting-age population. Voter registration materials will land in mailboxes as early as this month, again in May, and later in August, reaching more than 2.5 million potential new Hispanic registrants in the Southwest. The campaign will also contact eligible mail recipients by phone to remind them to fill out and return their registration forms.
"Mi Familia Vota Education Fund works to close the Latino civic participation gap from citizenship to voter registration to voter turnout, engaging voters year-round." said Ben Monterroso, Executive Director of Mi Familia Vota Education Fund. "Elected officials need to pay attention to our issues on a regular basis and consistently engage Latinos. How they react to key issues such as immigration reform will not be forgotten on Election Day. It is not enough to wait until six weeks before an election to pay lip service to Latino voters. We are too important to ignore."
NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
Mi Familia Vota Education Fund is one of the premiere national Latino civic engagement organizations that unites Latino, immigrant, and allied communities to promote social and economic justice through increased civic participation, including citizenship promotion and assistance, voter registration and voter engagement. Visit us at www.mifamiliavota.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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