Oregon Public Broadcasting

Latinos are the fastest growing minority population in Oregon.  As Pete Springer reports, that population growth also means more hispanic voters and likely a bigger  role in state politics and elections.

This is the first presidential election for 19-year-old Leslie Martinez.

But the young Salem resident says while her vote is important, it’s just as important for her to help other Latino voters understand the issues.  

Leslie Martinez: “Because a lot of times things are on the ballot that might not benefit the community or themselves the way that they would like, but they’re written in such a way that they don’t know.”

So Martinez volunteered to stuff envelopes with a voting guide for Latinos.  It was mailed out to about eight thousand voters.

Leslie Martinez: “We want them to realize what can happen with their votes.  And we want them to realize their power of voting.”

The Latino voting guide began as a project of Voz Hispana about eight years ago.

Larry Kleinman is a coordinator at Voz Hispana.  He says the guide helps voters who don’t always understand the issues on their ballots.

Larry Kleinman: “A large number of items on it, items with titles that are in many cases misleading, candidates they’ve never heard of and people didn’t vote, they would throw their ballots away because they were afraid to vote wrong.”

The key, says Kleinman, is to educate hispanic voters on how their votes today will affect their future. 

He says Voz Hispana is particularly interested in ballot measures 58 and 60, both of which deal with education.  Kleinman believes both measures could affect the future of Oregon’s workforce.

Larry Kleinman: “Those workers are going to school today.  And if they’re not learning  effectively based on the best available educational methodology, then we are gonna be in jeopardy as an economy and as a state.”

For Brenda Mendoza, voter education is her way to get more Latinos elected to political office.

Brenda Mendoza “We’re still not seeing that representation in our local leaders in congress, and you know, at the capital and hopefully in the years to come, we’ll see a change in that and we’ll be better represented.”

More than two million people are registered to vote in Oregon and fewer  than four-percent of them are Latino.  But that number is slowly growing.

Robert Eisinger is a political science professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland.  He says as more Latinos register to vote in Oregon, we probably won’t see a lot of change in what is already a blue state.

Robert Eisinger: “Many of them have also registered as Democrats, or perhaps as independents, but more as Democrats than Republicans -- so in totality, Latinos are an increasing or growing population in Oregon and disproportionately, they’re voting Democratic.”

Eisinger says right now, many Latinos in Oregon are immigrants who are not registered to vote.  But as their children grow up, we’ll likely start seeing more Latino politicians at the state and local level.

Robert Eisinger: “Is it two years, three years, five years, ten years when some of this new generation considers public service in the state legislature and these constituencies grow and the communities appreciate their value in their community?  Yes, we are likely to find more Latinos in the state legislature, it’s just a matter of time and when.”

As for whether Latinos will play a critical role in future elections in Oregon, Eisinger says that’s possible.  But then again, he adds that every sub-group of voters in the state -- not just Latinos -- can play a critical role in elections.

The key, he says, is organizing voters around a specific topic or issue.