Multimedia-Grassroots Campaign Launched to Help Achieve Historic Latino Turnout in 2008 - NCLR

“At the media kick-off event today for the National Council of La Raza NCLR Annual Conference in Miami, July 21-24, the NALEO Educational Fund, NCLR, ImpreMedia, and Univision – the leading Spanish-language media company – announced an unprecedented partnership, ¡ya es hora Now is the time, that will seek to increase Latino voter participation in the 2008 presidential election. This campaign, also discussed at last month’s NALEO Conference in Orlando, follows the highly successful effort, ya es hora ¡Ciudadaní Now is the time – Citizenship, which has helped to create near record increases in naturalization rates throughout the country 60% increase nationwide. This has been a broad-based effort which includes national partners such as the Service Employees International Union SEIU and the We Are America Alliance, along with a coalition of 300 regional and local organizations.

As the most comprehensive Latino civic engagement initiative in recent history, ¡ya es hora seeks to dramatically increase Latino voter participation in both the presidential primaries and the general election. Weaving together an intensive national media campaign with an unprecedented and aggressive grassroots voter registration and Get Out The Vote GOTV field campaign, the campaign will mobilize community-based organizations and Latino voters in as many as 11 key states. The effort will target more than half a million unregistered, newly-registered, and young Latino voters – the fastest-growing, largest, and recently politicized sectors of the U.S. Latino electorate.

According to Florida State Representative Juan C. Zapata, member of the NALEO Board of Directors, “Latinos have been the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate and are now poised to significantly affect 2008 electoral outcomes. Our effort seeks to ensure that eligible Latinos are meaningfully engaged, informed, and invited to be part of the American political process.”

Strategically, the campaign seeks to expand the Latino electorate in key battleground states, solidify the strength of the Latino vote in traditional Latino states, and help lay the foundation for a Latino electorate in nontraditional states where the Latino population has significantly increased in recent years. The strategy will establish Latinos as an important national electorate.

“The dramatic success of this year’s naturalization efforts demonstrates our community’s desire to help shape the future of our country at the ballot box,” said Janet Murguí, NCLR President and CEO. “This unprecedented effort will give Latinos the key to victory in 2008,” added Murguí. “The campaign will also build the capacities of local communities to engage in the electoral process for years to come,” concluded Murguí.”

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