Celebrating Diversity
Power at the polls
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Dexter Porter has one question for the young, black professionals he meets these days: “Are you registered to vote?”
As Georgia’s population has grown more diverse, so has the voting power of minority groups, especially African-Americans and Latinos.
Photos by Philip McCollum
Dexter Porter, vice president of governmental affairs at the Atlanta Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, says apathy plays a key role in low voter turnout among African-Americans.
The Latino community’s voter registration efforts in Gwinnett County helped get State Rep. Pedro Marin (D-Duluth) elected to the General Assembly in 2002.
HOW TO REGISTER
To vote in the Nov. 4 election, you must register by Oct. 6.
- You may register to vote by going to Secretary of State's Web site, filling out the form, printing it and mailing it in to the address indicated.
- You can also find information about early and absentee voting at this site.
- To register, you must be a U.S. citizen, a legal Georgia resident and at least 17½ years old. To vote, you must be 18.
- You may not register to vote if you are serving a sentence for a felony conviction or determined by a judge to be mentally incompetent.
Source: Patti Ghezzi
“We have an opportunity to show the voting power and voting strength that we have,” says Porter, vice president of governmental affairs at the Atlanta Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think it’s quite dawned on people yet.”
Such growth added more than 100,000 registered African-American voters to the pool in Georgia between 1996 to 2006, with potential for more if eligible adults sign up.
The Latino population in metro Atlanta exploded from 100,000 to 528,000 during the same period, and the number of registered Hispanic voters grew from 22,000 to 57,000 in Georgia.
Even though the population boom has spawned unprecedented opportunities to have diverse voices heard, African-American and Latino advocacy groups say they’ve run into familiar problems: low voter registration and low voter turnout.
Porter sums up the problem this way: “Apathy. That’s the big component.”
Many of his colleagues are in their 20s and 30s, have achieved professional success and are homeowners.
“They don’t feel a need to get involved with politics,” he said.
Officials in the Latino community face the same challenge.
“Like any other community, apathy is something we have been working very hard to overcome,” said Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials.
The group also is pushing voter registration to better harness its strength in numbers. A toll-free hotline (888-544-2536) has been in operation since last year, giving information in Spanish about the voting process to people who recently have become naturalized U.S. citizens. According to the group, an estimated 100,000 Latinos are eligible to vote in metro Atlanta.
“Language is a key issue, but we reassure people that they have a right to bring in any person of their choosing to assist them in the voting process,” Gonzalez said.
Only 58 percent of eligible African-Americans in Georgia were registered to vote in 2006, down from 65 percent from 1996, Census statistics reveal.
In the Latino community only 11 percent were registered to vote in the state in 2006, down from 22 percent in 1996. Asians are far less likely than white or black Georgians to register. Just 18 percent were registered in 2006.
Don’t think being registered to vote is important? Well, think again, Porter says. Not being involved in the political process can impact decisions that could affect lives.
“Politics is very local here,” he said. “If you own a restaurant, you want to know who regulates your liquor license.”
Locally, the Latino community has made major strides. Even though they make up only 2 percent of the electorate in Georgia, they’ve had an impact in communities such as Gwinnett County, where their support helped elect State Rep. Pedro Marin (D-Duluth) to the General Assembly in 2002.
“In a competitive statewide election, Latinos are poised to be able to make a difference in Georgia,” Gonzalez said.
On Nov. 4, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama will attempt to become the nation’s first African-American president. His campaign manager David Plouffe has identified Georgia as a possible swing state, one that has voted Republican in recent elections.
Obama campaign officials estimate that as many as 600,000 potential African-American voters are not registered, and they are working to register as many as they can in Georgia.
“There’s an inability [for some people] to believe that elections make a real difference,” said Jane Kidd, chair of the state’s Democratic Party, noting that younger African-American voters didn’t have to fight for access to the polls like their parents and grandparents did. “We want people to change their views of how government works for them and how they can have their voices heard.”