Young Latino Vote On March 4

Its Election Day again, ya'll. Tomorrow the great states of Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont will be voting. As it stands now Ohio has both John McCain and Hillary Clinton in the lead, Texas has Obama a few points up, and McCain in the lead despite the Dallas Morning News endorsement of Mike Huckabee.

It is assumed that tomorrow's election will bring two things. First, we can expect that John McCain will finally get to that magic number that crowns him the official nominee for the Republican Party. Secondly, we can expect an insane number of people to turn out to vote.

Already, papers were reporting record turnout in early voting. So far, nearly a million people in Texas have voted. More than 700,000 of them participated in the Democratic primary.

In Ohio, voters are just as excited and eager to vote early. The Obama campaign has mobilized supporters to shuttle them from rallies in Cincinnati and Columbus to local early voting locations according to a New York Times report.

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But its young Latinos in Texas that are making young voters matter even more. According to the Pew Hispanic Center 400,000 US born Latinos each year turn 18 and become eligible voters. And in Texas about one third of the state's Latino vote is 18-29 years old.
"If they turn out in bigger numbers than they have in the past, it could be a real turning point. It's this very large and growing untapped pool," said Roberto Suro, a founder of the Pew Hispanic Center and a journalism professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication."

Nationally, the young Latino population is growing so quickly that older community organizations are having a hard time keeping up, said Maria Teresa Petersen, executive director of Voto Latino, a nonpartisan group.

"When I travel cross-country and go to conferences to talk to young people, I tell them: 'Don't forget. Yes, you are Cuban, Mexican or Peruvian, but don't forget you're also American.' They get off their seats and start clapping. No one is recognizing their Americanness, and that's what these kids desperately want to demonstrate," Petersen said." Herald Tribune

In the past older Latinos have been some of the strongest Republican supporters but consistent with youth of all races, Latino youth are trending more toward the Democratic Party.

Ben Adler, brilliant columnist at Politico who generally covers the Youth Beat, reported about young Latinos last week.

Adler says that while Obama captures young people overall by a huge margin "Clinton carried young Latinos by roughly the same margin — 65 percent to Obama's 35 percent — that Obama won young whites (63 percent to 32 percent)." But "many of her Latino supporters in Texas are predicting a bigger generational split between older and younger Latinos than occurred in California, where her margins among older Latinos were only slightly greater than among younger ones."

On the Republican side, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is crossing fingers and toes while bringing out Chuck Norris again. Chuck and Huck held a barbecue earlier in February to rally supporters and energize volunteers. John McCain has now been doing some of his own barbecuing. John McCain has often been unpopular among his Republican counterparts because of his stance on immigration.

CNN reports that while this might not be popular among conservatives, Texas's large Latino population and former loyalties to the Republican party might spell victory for McCain on Tuesday night.

If you live in one of the March 4 States, don't forget to vote!!

Ally Klimkoski has been a staff in numerous races from presidential campaigns to city council races. Ally also consults and provides trainings to interest groups and activist organizations nationwide. Ally is especially interested in global human rights issues and the ever-increasing wage disparity in the U.S.