Longview Weather
79°F
Severe
Full Forecaste

Past Month's Most Commented Stories

Home > Area News

State reaches out to register Spanish-speaking voters

Saturday, August 2, 2008 11:38 PM PDT

By Thacher Schmid

Font Size:
 
 

Tri-Cities-based newspaper La Voz will distribute 22,000 Spanish-language voter registration forms to subscribers across Washington, the Secretary of State's office announced Monday. The unprecedented move is part of a state effort to reach out to a growing number of Spanish-speaking voters.

In the Lower Columbia region, nothing like this is happening — yet.

Five years after the election of Woodland Mayor Doug Monge, Cowlitz County's first Latino mayor, there's been little local effort to reach out to Spanish-speaking voters.

"We have not had any interest" in Spanish-language materials, said Cowlitz County Elections Supervisor Carolyn Myers. Not one phone call has come in, she said.

The idea of targeting potential voters who speak only Spanish hasn't caught hold with political parties locally, either.

"We're not doing anything" to reach potential Hispanic voters, said Butch Eldridge, chairman of the Cowlitz County Democratic Party.

Hispanics helped elect President Bush in 2000 but have most often voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates.

A national poll of registered Latino voters by the Pew Hispanic Center last week found 66 percent support Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama while 23 percent support Republican candidate John McCain. Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee announced it would spend $20 million specifically to mobilize Hispanic voters.

Many Hispanic voters are already registered, and others don't need Spanish-language materials. Only U.S. citizens can vote; illegal immigrants and legal permanent residents with "green cards" cannot.

Hispanics constitute 6 percent of the county population and 9 percent of the state population, according to official figures that may be low, given traditional barriers between government Census takers and the Hispanic community.

"We're not aware of any backlash," said Secretary of State spokesman Brian Zylstra said of the new effort to register Hispanic voters. Zylstra said Spanish forms had been offered in computerized form in the past, but "nothing of this scope" had been done.

Cowlitz County could be required to offer Spanish-language ballots in coming years. The federal Voting Rights Act decrees that any area in which over 5 percent of the population speaks a language besides English must offer voting materials in that language.

"We're looking towards the 2010 Census to see where we're at, to see whether we might be required to produce a Spanish ballot," Myers said. "We already have the voter registration forms in Spanish."

Franklin County, the heavily-Hispanic agricultural area that includes the Pasco portion of the Tri-Cities, already offers ballots in Spanish, though voter registration and voting typically are below average in low-income minority communities. La Voz Publisher David Cortinas offered to pay the cost of inserting the Spanish registration forms provided by the state and distributed from eastern Washington to Tacoma.

Cortinas predicted Latino votes would help elect Obama and other Democratic challengers. He characterized the Hispanics who voted for President Bush in 2000 as a shrinking group of "Reaganites" who voted loyally Republican after receiving amnesty in 1986. Cortinas said he plans to attend both parties' national conventions, saying his newspaper is nonpartisan.

"I believe (there's) 600,000 Latinos in the state of Washington, about 25 percent of those are registered voters. I know there was only about 13 percent of the 25 percent (who) voted in the mid-term elections in 2006," Cortinas said.

October 4 is the state deadline for online or mail-in voter registrations.

Previous Next

deesnuts wrote on Aug 3, 2008 12:46 AM:

" That's a bunch of b.s. Catering to a group of people who should be conforming to the nations laws and language. "

tvstad wrote on Aug 3, 2008 3:27 AM:

" my wife is hispanic and has many hispanic friends in this town. It is amazing how many are just plain lazy and dont want to learn english. After being in this country for 10 years, one of her friends cant read or write english and it frustrates my wife and I. You shouldnt have to cater to another language when this is the USA. I believe it should be part of naturalization to speak the language.
Just a thought "

roudy russ wrote on Aug 3, 2008 6:40 AM:

" Learn the DAMN language or get the HELL out !!!!!!!!!!! "

feistyone wrote on Aug 3, 2008 7:01 AM:

" Why in the world would we need to waste paper, postage, or anything else, by printing voting material in Spanish? All the people that have come to America legally, have learned to speak, read, and write the English language. And if they haven't, they need to. "

fossagrimmin wrote on Aug 3, 2008 9:36 AM:

" Well If they spoke english no one would have to "reach out" "

X-Democrat wrote on Aug 3, 2008 11:25 AM:

" This is another reason why I left the party. The Democrats just refuse to put America first. It's all about votes. What happened to speaking and writing English? The Hispanics are supporting Obama because of his total amnesty pledge. It is just a way to circumvent the law and get to the easy money. All Obama cares about is votes. I am convinced that he would say and do anything for votes and that scares me about his integrity. What wlll he do to get votes for his policies? "

Cheney119 wrote on Aug 3, 2008 12:31 PM:

" There was a political party in the 19th century here in America. There main platform was anti-immigration (mostly Irish Catholic), they may have even been anti-your great great grandparents who knows. The movie Gangs of New York addresses this issue (rather superficially). The name of the party? THE NO NOTHINGS, that's not what they called themselves of course, but that's what I'm reading here, blather from a bunch of ignorant no nothings. This country is based on immigration, it's one of the things that makes us American, coming to this country from somewhere else and then despising anyone that comes after. USA! USA! "

greenbean wrote on Aug 3, 2008 1:35 PM:

" I don't understand how someone can become a citizen without learning to read English. Isn't there a test to take, and wouldn't one need to be able to read it and study in English in order to pass? "

towboater wrote on Aug 3, 2008 1:55 PM:

" And we wonder why this generations GPA is failing. They dont NEED to read or write English, Uncle Sam will take care of them.

ANY person who cannot read or write ENGLISH should not be eligible to vote because they cannot comprehend info given to make a intelligent decision one way or the other. "

DUH wrote on Aug 3, 2008 2:12 PM:

" At this point, all either party cares about is votes. If they didn't care about votes they wouldn't have been nominated. At this point, both parties will make promises that they cannot, or don't intend to keep. I agree... If you're going to live in this country, learn the language. If you can't speak the language then you shouldn't be allowed to vote. I feel that if you want to become a citizen of the United states, you should at the very least be able to know, speak, and read the English language. "

DUH wrote on Aug 3, 2008 2:36 PM:

" I may be a Democrat but, that doesn't mean that I HAVE to agree with everything they say. Nor does it mean that I HAVE to disagree with everything a Republican says. That being said, I don't see this as a deal breaker and still intend to vote democrat. "

Thought wrote on Aug 3, 2008 2:45 PM:

" Maybe all you " Gringo's should have learned spanish when you stole the west from Mexico. " Fact" "

mclovin it wrote on Aug 3, 2008 5:21 PM:

" English is the official language, speak it or wait at the border until you can. "

marinersfan wrote on Aug 3, 2008 6:46 PM:

" I agree with thought. I think many people are just scared that we are getting the power to vote now and can effect how this country is run "

fossagrimmin wrote on Aug 3, 2008 6:56 PM:

" To cheney and Thought, cheney first, I dont think I ever met an American so hateful of americans as you.maybe you would like to live in Canada??
And Thought when you lose a battle or a War its not stealing its victorious spoils..the USA spoiled the Mexican nation of what the Mexican nation thought was its property,,Maybe the Mexicans would like to try it again..IE invade the USA and take back there riteful land..Ill bet it dont happen. "

Nunesy wrote on Aug 3, 2008 7:10 PM:

" Maybe all you REAL AMERICANS should learn Navaho. English is a foreign language to this continent also. Besides, this is a free country where we can believe and speak anyway we want. Didn't we fight a war to do away with dictators? "

DUH wrote on Aug 3, 2008 7:40 PM:

" RE: Thought... The way I see it, we didn't steal the west from Mexico. We bought and paid for it. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed in February 1848, provided for the following:
The United States received all of the land originally sought by John Slidell, including present-day New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas and parts of Colorado, Utah and Nevada; this area is often called the "Mexican Cession"
The Mexicans received $15 million for those lands and were relieved of responsibility for claims by American citizens (about $3 million)
The border between the two nations was fixed at the Rio Grande. "Fact" "

X-Democrat wrote on Aug 3, 2008 9:12 PM:

" Well Cheney there is a big difference between those immigrants and these immigrants. Most of those immigrants learned the language and became respectful of the laws. These immigrants refuse to learn the language, and refuse to support the laws. Yes they do when they support illegal immigrants. Instead of being part of the solution, they are part of the problem. Speaking English should be part of the American fabric. By the way, Cheney, even a Liberal Demoncrat like Ted Kennedy knows that something must be done about the problem. That is why he joined with John McCain on a bi-partisan immigration reform law last year. Somehow even Ted had enough brains left to understand this problem. Why can't you? "

Cheney119 wrote on Aug 3, 2008 10:52 PM:

" I don't hate my country, I simply know the history of my country and my previous post is absolutely correct. We are a nation of immigrants and new immigrants have been despised by anyone that is already here, it's been that way for 300 years. Mexicans will learn the language, after one generation, just like every other immigrant group did, they need help voting and the like until they do. All you need to do is bring up this topic and the Lou Dobbs diciples come crawling out of the woodwork. Please remember to take your blood pressure medicine, along with your geritol before you post. This story I might remind you is about voter registration, i.e. U.S. CITIZENS, they are here legally if they are voting. "

DW wrote on Aug 4, 2008 8:28 AM:

" Cheney, they are not necessarily here legally if they are voting. Some counties have very little follow-up on voter registraion cards. When you renew your license, you have the opportunity to register to vote. As for your comment that they will learn english in a generation, I would argue that most have been here for more than a generation, and we just keep letting them in. Try this Cheney, run to mexico, try to get a job and a drivers license, and see how fast they through your butt in jail, take all your money, tell you to call home and get more money as you have to bribe them just to get out of the country. "

Huggygramma wrote on Aug 4, 2008 9:09 AM:

" After reading these posts I believe many of our Americans should also have to learn English. I am stunned by the spelling/grammar errors made by citizens who should have mastered their own language. For those who speak about bad treatment by the Mexicans in their own country, I never had such a problem. My Spanish is poor, to say the least, but I found the people in Mexico to be very helpful the instant I showed that I was trying to speak their language. In my dealings with the Mexican population here, I found that when I tried to communicate in their language as best I could, they tried to meet me half way, or more. The key word here is to be friendly, not adversarial. "

Kelso Guy wrote on Aug 4, 2008 9:43 AM:

" Spanish is the official second language of the United States, if you can't speak it or understand it or if this bothers you, then you are the one who's lazy. "

DUH wrote on Aug 4, 2008 10:01 AM:

" I don't care that Spanish is the official SECOND language. I don't have a problem with learning it but, If Mexicans want to become citizens of the United States and vote, they should know and speak the official FIRST language of the United States "

DUH wrote on Aug 4, 2008 10:03 AM:

" ENGLISH! "

TheGenius wrote on Aug 4, 2008 10:32 AM:

" Let's calm down a second a look at this as rational people, which may be hard since this involves immigration. If I move to Mexico, the citizens of that country would be pretty offended if I demanded that everything was written in English as well as Spanish. If I move to Italy, they would have a reasonable expectation that I learn Italian. If I move to Germany... you get the idea. I'm not anti-immigration, especially being the child of immigrants who have since become naturalized US citizens. That said, they never demanded that voter information or any other government document be in the language of their homeland. They understood that being in the US, English is the language of the land and that is that. It is not anti-immigrant or anti-Mexican to ask people to do that. For what it's worth, I don't recall any law being passed that declared Spanish as being the offical second language of the United States. Then again, I don't recall a law being passed that declared English the offical language of the US. That said, being that the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the laws of the United States passed by Congress and signed by the President are all in English, maybe we should adhere to the precedent that has already been set. Is that too hard for everyone. God bless America. "

Kelso Guy wrote on Aug 4, 2008 10:42 AM:

" Wouldn't the world be a happier place if we all spoke the same language? It's pretty pathetic that everyone gets all up in arms about the method of communication. What about sign language, let's get all agitated because the government has brail at ATM and voting machines. Get over it already. Obviously if someone doesn't speak English they are the one's at a disadvantage, not you. It's just one more thing for someone to use to feel better than someone else. if you think about it, eventually everyone will be the same race and speak the same language anyway.... "

1978 jacks wrote on Aug 4, 2008 3:24 PM:

" How much B.S. can the politicians pile on us? My family came over from the old world in 1640 and we had to learn the languages when we settled in New York territory. There were absolutely no concessions made for the settlers no matter what your nationality was at the time you learned the language or languages. Now we are making concessions for the hispanic community, what about the Russian community or even the asians. "

dude wrote on Aug 4, 2008 7:19 PM:

" They speak English in Mexico why not here. "

Grace wrote on Aug 4, 2008 8:33 PM:

" Reaching out to one group is discriminatory against all other non-English speakers. Our tax dollars at waste. This is NOT an immigration issue. "

Top Jobs
More Top Jobs
Top Garage Sales
More Top Garage Sales
Top Rentals
More Top Rentals