Getting the Latino vote out

The United States has the lowest voter turnout of any other industrialized democracy.

Fewer than half of registered voters made it to the polls on Election Day this year, and that percentage was even higher than it was in 2006 for the last midterm elections.

But there are people who work tirelessly every election cycle trying to turn that trend. Jo Ann Armenta is one of those people.

About two years ago, a prominent politician told Armenta he didn't care about Latino issues because Latinos don't vote. She took that as a challenge.

Armenta lives in Elgin and is a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens, an organization focused on education, civil rights and employment for Latinos.

This year LULAC partnered with 14 other area organizations dedicated to increasing voter participation in the Latino community.

Armenta took the lead in organizing a forum that brought candidates from five state and local races and 300 community members to the Gail Borden Public Library.

“It was a demonstration as much for the community that Latinos really are a political force in this community,” Armenta said. “We just need to find a way to come together to exert that political muscle.”

In her thank you e-mail to the candidates, Armenta said perhaps they would no longer pay short shrift to the Latino population.

She is convinced many of the students who helped with the forum kindergartners who said the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning, middle and high school students who asked the questions and college students who served as moderators will remain involved in the political process throughout their lives.

“I think the candidates forum was a tremendous opportunity for the Latino community to understand the electoral process and participate in it,” Armenta said.

Armenta has voted in every single election she was eligible for it's something she has been passionate about since her youth in Chicago. Her father was a precinct captain and she saw the way Chicago politics ran up close.

“The Chicago saying vote early and often a lot of that was kind of true and I didn't like it,” Armenta said. “I didn't like it at all.”

Since she had an awakening of sorts in her 20s to the differences of culture and became more connected to being Latina, Armenta has been heavily involved in a push to get other Latinos involved in the political process too.

Her efforts have always been nonpartisan and she said although she is Republican she does not diminish the differing views of those she reaches out to. For the next election, Armenta would like to pass the leadership baton and let someone else take over planning for future candidate forums. But she hopes they happen.

After all, she points out, the spirit of the Declaration of Independence is that there is a government run by “we the people.”

And voting is the most basic way “the people” can have a say in government.

I'd like to hear from you

I'm always looking for more people to talk to. If you live in Dundee or Hampshire townships and would like to share your story, or would like to recommend someone else's, contact me at (847) 608-2722 or tgarciamathewson@dailyherald.com. If you live outside of the Dundee area, e-mail foxvalley@dailyherald.com or call (847) 608-2731.