April 12, 2007, New York City—The rush by as many as twenty-three states to hold their primaries by February 5, 2008, has been widely criticized as too heavily favoring well financed candidates with high name recognition. While the concerns about the adverse effects of extreme “frontloading” on the democratic process are both legitimate and troublesome, there could be a silver lining. The trend could give urban and minority voters—particularly Latinos—a bigger say in the selection of presidential nominees for both parties.

In “Frontloading the Primaries: A Silver Lining—Latinos Get a Vote,” a new issue brief from The Century Foundation, Democracy Fellow and election reform expert Tova Wang examines the important role that Latinos could—for the first time—play in the early primaries being held in a large number of states. According to the report, six of the states that are expected to have nominating contests on or before February 5—Nevada , California , New Mexico , New Jersey , Texas , and New York —all have among the largest Latino populations in the country. Historically low participation rates in primary contests overall increase the potential impact Latino voters could have. A greater number of Latino voters participating in early primaries could not only affect the outcomes, but also the topics the candidates focus on, including wage and labor issues, education and immigration reform.

The brief presents data on how Latinos are a growing proportion of the pool of registered voters. It also includes poll results that show that many Latinos express high levels of interest in political issues. However, it also notes Latinos historically have had lower rates of political participation than other groups. Wang cautions that the extent of the impact of the Latino vote will depend on the ability of voting rights and advocacy groups to increase the number of registered voters and get out the vote. She states that steps to accomplish this might include the following strategies:

• A more intense focus on voter registration for the primaries, as well as the general election
• Involvement by Latinos in making appeals for greater political participation to other Latinos
• Enlarging mobilization campaigns to include young, poor, and recently naturalized Latino citizens, the fast growing segments of the Latino electorate that have often been ignored in previous mobilization strategies
• Creation of mobilization strategies that do not over rely on the Internet, which, according to a recent study, is only used by 56 percent of Latinos and 32 percent of Spanish-speaking-only Latinos
• An increased focus on voter education efforts in the Latino community

The structural barriers to participation also must be addressed in order to maximize participation among Latinos as well as other groups. These include:

• Compliance with legal requirements that registration forms be disseminated consistently at public service agencies
• Simplification of voter registration forms
• Advocacy and support of policies that would make it easier for people with limited time and resources to participate in elections such as making Election Day a national holiday, expanding polling hours, or better planning for allocation of voting machines and ballots
• Enforcement of the sections of the Voting Rights Act that require language assistance at the polls

“Frontloading the Primaries: A Silver Lining—Latinos Get a Vote” is the second in a series of briefs on issues related to the frontloading of the primaries. This brief and others in the series can be downloaded from www.tcf.org or www.reformelections.org, The Century Foundation’s election reform project site. For more information, contact Christy Hicks at [email protected] or (212) 452-7723.