LATINO VOTE

Iglesia católica lanza campaña por ciudadanía en California Los Ángeles, 24 Feb (Notimex).- La Iglesia católica de California lanzó una iniciativa para promover que más de dos millones de inmigrantes en el estado tramiten su ciudadanía estadunidense.

  La iniciativa comenzará formalmente el próximo 27 de febrero en la Catedral de Cristo, a donde asistirán las máximas representaciones católicas en el estado.

  A este evento asistirán el arzobispo de Los Ángeles, José Gómez; el obispo auxiliar de la Diócesis de Orange, Dominc Luong, así como otros obispos y líderes parroquiales y caridades católicas de ese estado.

  "Al atender el llamado del Papa Francisco durante el Año Santo de la Misericordia, la Iglesia Católica en California ha comenzado un esfuerzo para naturalizar a los cientos de miles de residentes permanentes que no se están dando cuenta plenamente de la promesa de la ciudadanía", anunció.

  Este esfuerzo representa un nuevo programa que ofrecerá asistencia práctica para los residentes legales que buscan la plena ciudadanía, resaltó, y se realizará en paralelo con los que la Iglesia hace por una reforma migratoria integral.

  Tras la reunión, el arzobispo Gómez, el obispo Luong y los obispos y sacerdotes presentes conducirán una procesión a través de una exposición llamada "Un Camino de Esperanza a lo Largo del Rastro Migrante: Un Vía Crucis Migrante. Estaciones Migrantes de la Cruz".

  Esta exposición fue creada con piezas sagradas que se encontraron a lo largo de la frontera de Estados Unidos con México, y ofrece un poderoso encuentro de oración, que saca a la luz la situación de los migrantes, refugiados y todos los que habitan en los márgenes de la sociedad.

William C. Velásquez Institute        Southwest Voter Registration Education Project  For Immediate Release                                                               More Information: Antonio Gonzalez, 323-332-6160 Presidential Candidates Enter Latino Primary Gauntlet 11 States with Six Million Latino Voters Hold Primaries Feb 20-March 22 (Los Angeles, CA Feb 22) Kicked-off by the Nevada Caucuses the Presidential Candidates are now in the "Latino Primary Gauntlet" of 11 states that have at least 100,000 Latino registered voters or a total of more than 6,000,000 Latino voters. "Nevada gave us the first surprises of the season with Latinos comprising a record 19% of the Democratic caucus goers and matching their 2008 turnout with about 15,000 votes cast on Feb 20. This is impressive given that the Black vote declined by 50% and all Democratic turnout declined by 33%," said Southwest Voter Registration Education Project President Antonio Gonzalez.  "Now the Candidates head to Super Tuesday (March 1) which includes five states with significant numbers of Latino voters: Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Virginia and Georgia. Following Super Tuesday weekly primaries thru March 22 will include five more Latino-focused states: Michigan, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and Arizona.  "While in "the Latino Gauntlet" the Candidates will have to address Latino-specific concerns like: immigration reform; Puerto Rico's debt crisis; Obama's Cuba Plan; border colonia development; civil and voting rights; the war on drugs; and more. All these issues are in addition to mainstream concerns that are very much part of the Latino agenda like jobs, home ownership, campaign finance reform, college affordability, small business development, quality public education, climate change and so on," Gonzalez continued.  "SVREP is hosting Latino Vote Summits in Nevada, Texas, Florida and Arizona to give Presidential Candidates a chance to engage Latino voters while they are in the "Latino Gauntlet" -the next one being in San Antonio, TX on this Friday, Feb 26 at UTSA. People can get all the details on www.svrep.org," said SVREP Vice President Lydia Camarillo.  "Latinos do vote in the primaries of both the Democratic and Republican Party. However they comprise a much bigger share typically in the Democratic Primary. For example the Latino vote will represent 35% of the Democrats in Texas, 20% and above in Colorado, Florida, and Arizona, and 5-10% in the other Latino-oriented states," added Camarillo.  SVREP is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1974 with offices in San Antonio and Los Angeles. SVREP's Latino Vote 2016 campaign will register 250,000 voters in 2016.

William C. Velásquez Institute

For Immediate Release                                           More Info: 323-332-6160 Statement by WCVI President Antonio Gonzalez: Who Won the Nevada Latino Vote? Latinos Reached a Record Share of Nevada Democratic Caucuses (Los Angeles, Feb 22) After hearing about disputes between the Sanders and Clinton over the Edison Entry Poll Survey results on the Latino vote in the Feb 20 Primary Caucuses WCVI undertook a review of the publicly disclosed data. WCVI concludes that the survey results are statistically consistent with the margin of victory of Hillary Clinton on Feb 20. The main dispute among pundits and between campaigns has been the assertion that it is statistically impossible for Hillary Clinton to narrowly lose the Latino vote (45% to 53% with Latinos representing 19% of the voters) and narrowly lose Whites (47% to 49% with Whites representing 59% of the voters) and still win the election by 5.3%. However WCVI concludes the Clinton margin of victory is adequately explained by the large margin of victory Secretary Clinton won among African American voters (77% to 23% with AA's representing 13% of the voters). Simply put there is no relevant statistical inconsistency between Edison's Entry Poll results for Latinos, Whites, and Blacks and the overall election results. Based on this fact WCVI concludes that there is no statistical basis to question the Latino vote breakdown between Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders. We note that some analysts have said that Secretary Clinton's victories in heavily Latino precincts proved that she won the Latino vote. However the methodology of using heavily Latino or "barrio" precincts to represent Latino voting behavior has been considered ineffective and discarded for more than 30 years due to non-barrio residential patterns been common among Latino voters since the 1980's. Lost is this controversy is the fact that the data shows a record high Latino vote share in the Democratic Caucuses with Latinos representing 19% of the vote compared to 13% in 2008. WCVI is a non-profit, non-partisan Latino public policy and research organization founded in 1985 with offices in Los Angeles and San Antonio. *****************