A Latino voting push: seeing pressing issues, a nonpartisan group targets Pa. and N.J. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA)

Byline: Gaiutra Bahadur

Jul. 26--A civic group that registered 72,000 Latino voters in Florida in 2004 is expanding its efforts with electoral drives in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Arizona.

The nonpartisan Hispanic organization Democracia U.S.A. launched its Pennsylvania campaign yesterday with a news conference at the Tierra Colombiana restaurant, in the center of the city's long-standing Latino community on North Fifth Street.

Though the state ranked 15th nationwide in Latino population in 2004 -- just under a half-million residents said they had roots in Latin America -- it has one of the fastest-growing Hispanic populations, political scientist Sergio Bendixen told reporters.

'Pennsylvania is virgin territory for the civic engagement, political organization and voter registration of Hispanics,' said Bendixen, a prominent Latino pollster.

Though far from the border, the state has found itself in the national spotlight as the country debates illegal immigration.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.) chairs the committee that drafted the Senate's proposed overhaul of the nation's immigration laws. Cheesesteak impresario Joey Vento, owner of Geno's Steaks in South Philadelphia, emerged as a plainspoken mouthpiece for the English-only movement. And Hazleton, the small Poconos town that enacted a law this month cracking down on illegal immigrants, has become a model for other municipalities.

Jorge Mursuli, director of Democracia U.S.A., said that the climate nationwide lends urgency to registering Latino citizens, educating them about the political process, and getting them to vote.

'This is especially important during times like these, when an anti-Hispanic fever is sweeping the country,' he said.

Mursuli called the Hazleton ordinance 'an example of what can happen when people think a community has no power' and a forceful argument for registering more Latinos.

'Are we going to do anything about it?' he said. 'How can we not?'

Canvassers for the group, who have been at work in the state for two months, registered 75 new voters in Hazleton at community meetings to discuss the measures aimed at illegal immigrants. In total, they have registered 5,000 voters across Pennsylvania.

The New Jersey campaign has not started yet.

Latino voter turnout has historically lagged behind that of the general population, posing a challenge for groups such as Democracia U.S.A.

'Simply signing up new voters is not enough,' Mursuli acknowledged.

Democracia U.S.A., a project of the People for the American Way Foundation, also educates voters about issues that affect their lives and encourages them to vote through at-home visits, direct mail and phone calls. It also trains leaders in local communities.

Nationwide, the size of the Latino electorate tripled between 1980 and 2004. In 2004, 7.6 million of 10 million Latinos registered to vote cast ballots across the country.

In Pennsylvania, 95,000 of the state's registered Latino voters went to the polls that year. Democracia U.S.A. hopes to increase that number to 245,000 by 2010.

Bendixen said that Latinos overwhelmingly agree on key issues, suggesting they are a bloc to be courted by both Republicans and Democrats.

His Miami-based firm, Bendixen & Associates, interviewed 1,000 Latinos in May about the war in Iraq and policies affecting immigration, the minimum wage, and health insurance.

Most respondents opposed the war and were in favor of raising the minimum wage, creating a national health-insurance plan, and granting illegal immigrants a chance to become legal residents of the United States.

Opposition to immigrant-crackdown policies has sent Latinos to the polls in the past, Bendixen said. In California, Asians and Latinos later voted to replace Republican political leaders who backed a 1994 package of measures denying social services, health care and public education to illegal immigrants.

'Now we have another war against immigrants in Washington,' Bendixen said.

Among Latinos, he said, 'we're seeing a great deal of interest in politics and in elections because of the immigration debate.' They see it as 'being about 'whether we belong in the United States.' '

In 2004, Latinos made up 14.2 percent of the U.S. population, or about 40 million people, according to the U.S. Census. By 2050, the Census Bureau predicts, they will account for one-quarter of the population, or about 103 million people.

Only five Pennsylvania counties had more than 20,000 Latino residents in 2004, according to the census. Philadelphia, with about 140,000 Latinos, had the largest population, followed by Berks, Lancaster, Lehigh and Northampton Counties.

By 2015, however, Montgomery, Bucks and Chester Counties also are expected to have more than 20,000 Latino residents.

Nationally, New Jersey ranks sixth, with a Latino population of 1.3 million.

Contact staff writer Gaiutra Bahadur at 215-854-2601 or bahadug@phillynews.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer

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