Elections officials reach out to Latino voters
Tuesday, July 29, 2008 8:38 AM PDT
By The Daily News
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe secretary of state’s Elections Division is sending out 3,500 voter registration forms printed in Spanish in an effort to reach out to Spanish-speaking voters.
“We believe it is very important that all of our qualified citizens have a chance to register to vote so they can participate in our elections and have their voices heard,” said Secretary of State Sam Reed in a press release Monday.
Oct. 4 is the deadline for online or mail-in voter registrations and transfers prior to the Nov. 4 general election. Location information for each county auditor is available on the Internet by going to: http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/auditors.aspx.
The voter registration forms were inserted into the weekly edition of La Voz, a Spanish-language newspaper that is distributed in Tacoma and parts of Eastern Washington, the press release states. They will be included in all editions of the newspaper through mid-August.
David Cortinas, publisher of La Voz, donated the cost of insertion. In total, 22,000 Spanish-language forms were provided to Cortinas, which accounts for 60 percent of the year’s supply of Spanish-language voter registration forms.
ratkins wrote on Jul 29, 2008 9:26 AM:
"states Elections Division ... 3,500 voter registration". There are more Spanish speaking Americans than 3,500 in my hometown of Benton City, WA. Will only a small percent of Spanish speaking Americans be able to vote? How unfair is this?
"... donated ... 22,000...,60 percent... Spanish language voter registration forms."
..."all of our qualified citizens"
This is totally outrageous!Should it be an effort to reach all Americans? Or should it be a standard that all Americans have it available nomatter the language. It seems as though if the welfare program can reach people of every language for anyone who wants it, so can the states Elections Division. "
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