Tuesday, Sept. 25 is "National Voter Registration Day and volunteers will "hit the streets" to encourage all around mobilization across the country.
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials predicted 12.2 million Latinos would go out and vote.
Since August, organizations such as Voto Latino, League of Latin American Citizens, and civil rights groups like the National Council of La Raza, have registered nearly 100,000 voters.
Voter registration deadlines are coming up for three of the battleground states where Latinos are expected to be decisive for the presidential election: Nevada, Oct. 16; Florida, Oct. 9; and Colorado, Oct. 9.
The Latino community makes up more than 10 percent of the nation's eligible voters and approximately 8 percent of its registered voters. A number of states have pursued discriminatory voting policies that threaten to undermine the participation of millions of Latino citizens during the 2012 elections.
A new report finds that 23 states currently have legal barriers that disproportionately impact voter registration and participation by 10 million Latino citizens. Since 2011, at least 180 restrictive bills were introduced in 41 states, according to a report released by the Brennan Center for Justice.
In Florida, there are nine forms of acceptable IDs including student identification, passport, debit or credit card, driver's licenses, etc. In Colorado, there are 17 different forms that are acceptable, excluding a Social Security Card. In Nevada there are four including any other form of identification issued by a governmental agency, which contains the voter's signature and physical description or picture.
The Brennan Center found that 25 percent of blacks and 16 percent of Latinos do not own government issued photo IDs.
"It's hard for a lot of people and Latinos to keep up with all the changes, if they're not paying attention," Jessica Reeves, Voto Latino's partnership director, said.
The purpose of voter registration day is to inform individuals of the steps they need to take to prepare for Election Day.
Voto Latino will be promoting two big events in Los Angeles and New York where they will be going to college campuses to rally supporters. In New York, they will be partnering with a popular hip-hop radio program Hot 97.
They're aiming to each register 100 voters for that day, which would push the projection to more than 50,000.
The biggest drawback is motivation.
"Nobody has ever asked them to participate in an election or nobody has really taken the time to explain things," Reeves said. "I think people become disinterested-then even when things don't happen quickly or the way that they want-they become disillusioned that their vote doesn't matter. I think it's about seeing things through."
There are roughly 9 million American Latino youth in the U.S., but only a small fraction vote. Fifty percent of all eligible Latino voters are under 40 and 33 percent are between 18 and 34. By 2050, Latino youth are expected to comprise 29 percent of the U.S. youth population. 50,000 American Latinos turn 18 every month and 90 percent of American Latinos under 29 consume information in English. Latinos make up more than 10 percent of the electorate in 11: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada and Texas.
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