Press Release

For Immediate Release, April 1, 2004
Contact: Brent Wilkes, 202-833-6130

Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has joined in partnership with the Southwest Voter Education and Registration Project (SVREP), the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA) and the Hispanic Federation to launch the 10-4 Campaign to register 10 million Latino voters in 2004.  With its 10 electoral votes, Arizona is a critical state for this next election. Latinos may prove significant in this coming race as one in four of the state’s residents are Hispanic and represent 16 percent of all registered voters. 

In the 1996-2000 election cycles we witnessed an important trend when for six consecutive election cycles Latinos became the fastest growing major ethnic group in terms of voter registration nationwide. Latino registration and voting grew by approximately 1 million voters respectively in that time. Importantly, the share of registration and votes cast comprised by Latinos is also increasing rapidly. In sum, most indicators of comparative political influence show rapid gains by Latinos.  Furthermore, since 1996, Latinos have seen a steady growth in representation with 363 Latinos in elected office throughout the state, including two members of Congress and 15 state legislators. 

“I think we have a historic opportunity to grow the number of Hispanic voters in ways we haven’t witnessed in the past,” said LULAC Director of Policy and Legislation, Dr. Gabriela Lemus.  “There is a true sea-change on the part of both parties in doing outreach to Latino voters and Latino voters are paying attention to the issues more than ever before.” 

It is now common to hear opinion leaders and the media comment on the growing importance and impact of the Latino vote in states and localities across the country. Both major political parties are making increasing efforts to outreach to Latino voters because they realize that they must maintain or expand their share of the Latino vote in order to gain or maintain their place in power. 

“Yet much work remains to be done. Massive numbers of Latinos still remain unregistered because of rapid demographic growth. Despite the rapid rate of increase in Latino registration, researchers estimate that nearly 8 million eligible Latinos are unregistered today.” said Antonio Gonzalez, President of SVREP.  “It is expected that this initiative will measurably expand the quantity and improve the quality of Latino participation. Through this process, a large group of Latino youth, foreign-born, and low and moderate income voters will be systematically registered, educated, and mobilized through some 300 coalitions of community leadership that are sponsored by the 10-4 alliance.” 

“We recognize that the Latino population is very young – a third of the overall population is under eighteen and another third is between the ages of 18 and 25.  We need to engage young Hispanics in the political process so that as they come of age, they have the understanding of how issues affect them and how that correlates to voting,” said Milton Rosado, President of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA).  “Of the 1.3 million Latinos here in Arizona, about 70 percent are at least eighteen of age and are 16 percent of the electorate. In 2004, Latinos could very well be the deciding factor for any candidate.” 

The 10-4 Campaign is a nonpartisan coalition effort to increase the Latino vote not only in 2004, but for years to come and to raise Latino electoral participation to 10 million registered voters in the 2004 national elections. The 2004 partnership includes the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the largest and oldest Latino civil rights organization in the U.S.; the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the largest and oldest Latino union member organization; the Hispanic Federation, the premier Latino federation of community-based organizations in the Northeast; and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), the largest and oldest nonpartisan Latino political mobilization organization in the United States.

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