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Convincing Latinos their vote counts
by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio
October 7, 2004

Lisa Gallegos signs up another Latino voter. She says many Latino residents don't see a connection between politics and their personal, daily struggle. (MPR Photo/Dan Gunderson)

With a tight presidential election expected this year and Minnesota being a swing state, many groups are trying to register new minority voters. Surveys by the U.S. Census Bureau show 30 percent of Hispanics living in Minnesota are registered voters. By comparison, nearly 80 percent of white residents are registered. Moorhead is one place where there's an effort to get Latino residents to the polls. Some are eager to participate, but others have very practical reasons for not registering to vote.

Moorhead, Minn. — About 5:30 on a Thursday evening, eight people gather around a conference table in Lisa Gallegos' office in Centro Cultural, a Latino community center in Moorhead.

The volunteers are preparing for an evening of door-knocking in Latino neighborhoods around Moorhead. The goal is to register new voters, and Lisa Gallegos tells them it might not be an easy task.

"We have a lot of angry families," says Gallegos. "They're angry about the system, they're angry about their experiences. And there's some that have potential to be future leaders."

	Juan Carlos Gomez

Don't get discouraged, Lisa Gallegos tells the volunteers. Persistence pays off. This is not a short-term project.

"Keep going to those neighborhoods once, twice, three times. If you go to visit 15 Latino homes and you get one registration, you still accomplished a lot," says Gallegos.

The volunteers split up into three groups and head out into the hot, humid evening.

Gallegos drives to a trailer park on the edge of town. A lot of Latino families live here. Kids play in the dusty gravel streets and most of the aging trailer homes are well-used.

At one of the first stops, Gallegos encounters Juan Carlos Gomez, who is picking up his kids at his mom's house.

"I had registered in Ohio, but I've never voted in my life actually," says Gomez.

Juan Gomez is 24, married, with three small children. He seems eager to register to vote. As he fills in the voter registration card, his kids pull at his legs trying to get their dad's attention.

"I just got off work. I'm just tired. I've been hauling rock all day. I'm a landscaper," explains Gomez.

Juan Gomez says he's doing pretty well economically. He has lots of work, he just bought a dependable car and his bills are getting paid.

The thing I know is I go to work in the morning, I come home in the afternoon. I pay my bills, I pay my taxes. I don't pay much attention to politics. - Maria Guzman

He's given the presidential race some thought, and he's not impressed with the candidates.

"We need somebody different to run for president," says Gomez. "Bush has got the balls, Kerry don't. Kerry has got the brains, Bush don't. We need somebody with both to run for president."

When it comes to local politics, Juan Gomez is less certain -- he doesn't pay much attention to local issues. He doesn't know who represents him in the state Legislature or on the city council.

"I guess I got to do a little bit of research and get to know who's running," says Gomez. No local politicians have knocked on his door, but then he might not be there if they did.

"I'm usually at work, so I'm on a routine -- work, home, sleep. Barely enough time for my kids," says Gomez.

At another trailer, Lisa Gallegos finds an older man who speaks only limited English and can't write. She fills out the voter registration card for him.

But not every encounter is successful.

	Centro Cultural

A woman flatly refuses the offer to register. "That's how they get my name for jury duty, and I don't want to go on jury duty," she says.

That's not an uncommon excuse. People say spending a week on jury duty can be an economic disaster when you're working a low-wage job and struggling to make ends meet.

After two hours of door-knocking, Lisa Gallegos has registered 10 new voters. She's buoyant as she returns to her car.

"I think more than ever, people are starting to smell the coffee. They're starting to voice their issues, and they're being honest about it," says Gallegos. "So, it's all good. It's all good."

Back in her office at Centro Cultural, Gallegos tallies up the voter registrations and debriefs the volunteers, who are excited about the successful effort.

Lisa Gallegos is the first member of her family to graduate from high school, and she's the first to get a college degree. She knows first-hand how Latinos often distrust the political system.

	Lisa and family

"Families are resistant. I don't have to go very far. My mom -- she says, 'Why do I have to vote? They're a bunch of liars, they're not going to do anything!' If I can convince my mom I can convince anybody else," laughs Gallegos.

Mom is Maria Guzman. She's been in the U.S. for 35 years. Her daughter has just convinced her to register to vote. But Guzman says politicians aren't talking to her, and she's disgusted by the tone of political campaigns.

"Last night I was listening to the news, how they fight. He says this, I say that, and they're fighting. So I think when the situation comes to have some help, how we going to trust these people?" asks Guzman.

Politicians won't change her life, insists Guzman, so why does it matter if she votes?

"I don't know who was the mayor, who was the government. The thing I know is I go to work in the morning, I come home in the afternoon. I pay my bills, I pay my taxes. I don't pay much attention to politics," says Guzman.

Lisa Gallegos laughs and says she'll keep working to convince her mom to vote. After all, her mom is the reason she's an activist in the Latino community.

"When I was growing up with my mom she didn't know the language, she didn't have the education, so she'd work at these factories. She'd come home tired, working 15-hour days. Seeing her come home tired, working two jobs at the time," Gallegos recalls. "She'd always show me her hands and say, 'Look at these hands. If you don't want to be coming home with bloody hands, I want you to finish school.' That's my drive to be able to push open those doors."

Lisa Gallegos hopes to convince Latinos that participating in the political system can open doors to a better life.

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