Washington, DC – The League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights organization in the country, announces the Our Voice, Our Choice Campaign. The objective of the new campaign is for the country to recognize the value of Latinos by registering friends, family, co-workers, and council members to act as a compass for the future of the country. The new ground efforts hope to prove that Latinos can make a positive contribution to the well-being of the country.
“The winner of this year’s midterm elections sets the tone for the political landscape and the political agenda for years to come,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales. “2010 is the year of the Latino vote. With so many issues coming to the forefront, we cannot stand to leave ourselves in the background. The campaign Our Voice, Our Choice will empower our community and protect our rights.”
For LULAC, voter registration drives have been in integral part of mobilizing of our community since the 1940s. When LULAC first embarked on mobilizing the Latino voting population, they faced discrimination via poll taxes, literary tests, and waiting in long lines. We did not endure these struggles in vain; rather we must rise to the occasion and mobilize our community to be civically engaged.
LULAC was founded on the basis of improving education, employment, and civil rights for Latinos. In order to accomplish the organization’s goals, the government must work together with the people to give substance to the American dream. Across America, Latinos must unite to elect a leader who will maintain Latino interests, while allowing the country as a whole to prosper.
LULAC believes that electing strong leaders that represent the Latino interests are necessary for the Our Voice, Our Choice campaign to succeed. It is essential to have leaders that embody the community’s ideals to encourage Latinos to vote so the government can consider our needs when creating legislation. We plan to ensure the success of this campaign by providing its vote registrators with as many resources as possible. Because each vote is vital, we want to ensure that Latinos are registering to vote the correct way.
Not only does LULAC wish to make voters a priority, but also we want to register, educate, and protect the Latino community.
We want to ensure that Latinos are well versed on the politicians and the issues that they represent. Our community must be able to make informed decisions so that Latinos are constantly a part of the political process.
Another vital component of our campaign is ensuring that all Latinos have the right to vote in a protected environment. Many Latinos may face intimidation at the polls; this intimidation is a violation of the law. We cannot allow individuals in our community to be isolated when it comes to voting.
Help Latinos today by getting involved in voter registration drives through your local LULAC councils.
For more information, please contact Anita Lederer, LULAC Voter Engagement Fellow at alederer@lulac.org or call 202-833-6130.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest and largest Hispanic membership organization in the country, advances the economic conditions, educational attainment, political influence, health, housing and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide. For more information, visit www.lulac.org.