Note: please note that this issue brief should (a) link back to the issue overview on this topic, (b) be focused either the local, state, national, or global level, and (c) be neutrally presented, based on facts, and include footnotes for each of the items. See the Research Guide and Information Sources to assist you.
Goal Statement
Scope of the Problem factual statements on the extent of the problem in the past, current, or future
What was the scope of the problem in the past?
- Throughout the Twentieth Century, Latino voters in the U.S. have experienced difficulty in electing candidates from their community to positions in local government. Election rules disproportionately favoring majority voters, often combined with an inadequate availability of bilingual election materials, have led to extremely low numbers of Latino elected officials in local government.
How is the problem defined today?
- Nationwide, Latinos continue to register and turn out to vote at considerably lower levels than their non-Latino counterparts (NALEO, 2006).
- Minority vote dilution is the biggest barrier to effective political participation by Latino voters in the nation. Vote dilution occurs where jurisdictions with a minority population vote along racial lines (i.e. a 25% Latino population voting for the Latino candidate, and a 75% non-Latino population voting for the non-Latino candidate) leading to what is known as racially polarized voting. Racially polarized voting combined with an at-large systems of elections, leads to a system in which the election of a minority candidate becomes a near impossibility as the winner needs to muster 50+1% of the vote to win. In a study of five cities across the country Matt E. Barreto found racially polarized voting to be more the rule, rather than the exception (Barreto 2007, 431).
- While Latinos constitute about 12.5% of the population of the United States, they represent less than 1% of all elected school officials (Geron 2005, 116).
- Severe Latino underrepresentation in communities in which Latinos comprise a significant proportion of the population keeps the Latino community from receiving vital community services such as schools, fire, and police (Geron 2005).
What is the future outlook for this issue?
- Nationwide, the growth in the number of Latino city officeholders only increased by 55.1% between 1984 and 2002, compared to a 150% increase in the Latino population during that period (de la Garza and DeSipio, 2006, 142). The outlook for local Latino political candidates remains challenging unless more aggressive bilingual voter outreach programs and election system reform are instituted.
- In many studies, changes in the structure and administration of elections have proven successful in fostering greater participation and representation among Latinos.
- Nationwide, the Latino voter turnout rate in the 2008 elections increased by 25% over the 2004 elections (Preston 2008).
Current Policy summary of current policies in the form of legislation, programs, and funding
- The 1965 Voting Rights Act has been key to reducing minority disenfranchisement throughout the country. Passed in response to severe disenfranchisement of African Americans in the South, the Act has since been expanded to include other racial and language minorities.
- The Act's enforcement is under the purview of the Department of Justice, which then delegates tasks to state, and local agencies.
- Two provisions of the act, which have been crucial to addressing minority voter dilution and disenfranchisement, have been section 2 and section 203.
- Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act:
- Requires jurisdictions, which have both racially polarized voting and an at-large system of elections to switch to district systems of election. In district elections, candidates now must only win elections in their own districts to be elected to local office.
- Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act:
- Requires jurisdictions with 10,000 or more members of a voting minority with little to no English proficiency to make available bilingual voting materials.
- Has led to an average 5% increase in voter turnout in jurisdictions that have applied it (Jones Correa 2005).
- Certain locales such as Alamagordo, NM and Peoria, IL, have experimented with cumulative and limited voting systems (see glossary). These systems, which either change the number of votes required to win, the number of votes allotted to each voter, or both, have been proven to lead to proportional minority representation in many locales. (Brockington et al., 1998, 1115).
Policy Options
Key Organizations/Individuals contacts for public and private organizations and key individuals
United States Department of Justice. Primary branch of the federal government in charge of enforcing voting rights law.
Local county auditors and city governments. Responsible for running local elections and archiving elections records. See local jurisdiction information.
National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO). Provides key studies on Latino related issues, particularly concerning Latino political representation.
Secretaries of State (statewide, not national). Responsible for monitoring and running elections on the state level. See local jurisdiction information.
Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund (MALDEF). Key legal based organization in charge of litigating various Latino social justice issues.
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC): Promotes Latino local involvement and political participation.
Joaquin Avila, Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law. Litigator of key voting rights cases including landmark decisions such as Gomez v. City of Watsonville, authored and helped pass the California Voting Rights Act (avilaj@seattleu.edu)
Glossary of Terms
Bibliography web sites, reports, articles, and other reference material
Barreto, Matt E. 2007. "Si se Puede! Latino Candidates and the Mobilization of Latino Voters." American Political Science Review 101: 425-441
David Brockington et al. 1998. "Minority Representation under Cumulative and Limited Voting." The Journal of Politics 60: 1108-1125
De la Garza, Rodolfo O., and Louis DeSipio. 2006. Reshaping the Tub: The Limits of the VRA for Latino Electoral Politics. In David L. Epstein,
Richard H. Pildes, Rodolfo O. de la Garza, and Sharyn O'Halloran, eds. The Future of the Voting Rights Act, pp. 139-162. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Geron, Kim. 2005. Latino Political Power. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers
Jones-Correa, Michael. 2005. "Language Provisions Under the Voting Rights Act: How Effective Are They?" Social Science Quarterly 86: 549-565
Preston, J. (2008, November 7). In Big Shift, Latino Vote Was Heavily for Obama. The New York Times, p. A24. Retrieved April 8, 2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/politics/07latino.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=latino%20turnout%202008%20election&st=cse
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