Research Report Summaries

Voting Rights and Political Mobilization:
Steps Toward Latino Empowerment

Latino Voting Rights

 
Nick Dollar recommends a change in the system of elections in the Toppenish and Wapato School Districts from the current winner-take-all at large format to either district elections or an alternative at-large format.  He found that the current system reduces the influence of Latino voters because both Latinos and non-Latinos in these districts tend to vote for candidates of their own race.  The Federal Voting Rights Act informed his recommendations and guided his research on this topic, which involved analyzing the voter records from several recent school board elections.

Tim Shadix recommends that Franklin County implement a yearly review of Latino voter turnout and other benchmarks of Latino political participation, while focusing more resources on bilingual elections programs and considering alternative election systems such as shifting to district elections for local offices. He found very low Latino voter turnout in Pasco - only 5-9% in local elections, in a city with a 56% Latino population. Shadix conducted an extensive review of election records and bilingual election material distribution in Pasco.

Kramer Phillips recommends that local elections administrators in Quincy and Othello implement public outreach programs and increase coordination with other government agencies, in order to extend a hand to the Latino community. Through a systematic study of local elections, Phillips discovered that Latinos, in both towns, are registered to vote and participating in elections at rates far below that of non-Latinos. As a result Latino representation is minimal.

Pedro Galvao recommends that Walla Walla change its current elections system by lowering the number of votes necessary to win an election and having candidates all run at the same time, providing a system that has created more proportional representation for minorities elsewhere. He found that Walla Walla Latinos are politically invisible, comprising only 3% of those who voted at recent elections, while making up roughly a fifth of the county's populace. Galvao analyzed three local elections and conducting interviews with the county auditor and two Latino political candidates.

Latino Political Mobilization and Civic Involvement

 
Lisa Curtis recommends that Walla Walla focus on getting Latinos more involved in civic affairs by supporting organizations working at the neighborhood level. She found that neighborhood improvement organizations are uniquely situated to empower lower-income Latinos by fostering trust and building a sense of community. She conducted a focused study on how two neighborhood organizations and a Latino networking organization are increasing the involvement of Latinos in Walla Walla.

Andrea Miller recommends increased outreach efforts to the Latino working class and youth in Pasco, along with coalition building among organizations aiming to increase Latino political involvement. Miller finds that in Pasco, partisanship has discouraged the development of mobilization efforts and that successful organizations have used legislative action and education as a strategy to bypass local party conflicts. Miller's conducted a focused study of the local Democratic and Republican Party organizations along with the Hispanic/Latino Legislative Organization, through interviews and observation.

Emma Fulkerson recommends that local Latino groups work to educate Latinos about how to vote, how to get involved in local politics, and how to solve problems like gang activities, to build community and increase civic engagement. Through dozens of interviews, and in light of prior scholarly research, Fulkerson assessed the Latino mobilization strategies of Barrios Unidos, a neighborhood based organization in Toppenish, and Ramona Fonseca's 2007 mayoral campaign in Granger.  She found that both groups successfully used educational approaches and other strategies to mobilize Latinos.

Melissa Navarro recommends that Spanish-language media outlets carefully evaluate how their content is reaching various Latino demographics in order to provide political and civic awareness. Navarro examined the content of various Spanish-language media outlets in the Yakima area, particularly newspapers and radio. Based on this content analysis as well as interviews, and in light of prior scholarly research, she finds that bilingual media can foster continued connections with Mexico and still provide important civic information to promote local engagement in US communities.

Enrica Maffucci recommends increasing youth involvement in high school community service and the GEAR UP Program as a way to increase political participation among all Latinos in Quincy. She found that involvement in such programs provides both the education and the space necessary to practice political skills that enable students to remain involved throughout their adult lives and to mobilize others. Maffucci did a focused study of the effects of such organizations by interviewing participants in these sorts of programs about their achievements and their political experiences.