Hispanic group urges Utah Latinos to vote

SALT LAKE CITY — A Hispanic advocacy group gathered on the steps of the State Capitol Wednesday to encourage Latinos to vote in the upcoming elections.

"It is the right to vote that allows us to determine to a certain degree our own future by electing officials who reflect our views and will speak for us in government," said Sabrina Morales, the executive director of the group, Communities United. "By not voting we are abdicating our right to influence government and allowing the will of others, whose opinions may be contrary to our own to prevail."

The timing of the voter drive comes at a time in which many Latinos in Utah feel under fire as legislators are mulling measures that would aggressively crack down on illegal immigrants and could lead to racial profiling.

Morales, the organization's executive director, was born in Guatemala but immigrated to the United States. Morales is a lot like the people she hopes to reach in the coming weeks as part of a new Communities United initiative called "Mi Voto Cuenta," or My Vote Counts. The group hopes to register and inform Hispanic voters throughout the state but especially in the Salt Lake County before upcoming elections.

"The goal is to register as many Hispanic citizens as possible," Morales said.

Sylvia Haro, a Communities United board member, said the timing couldn't be better to motivate Hispanics in Utah to vote.

"You have to have a sense of urgency to motivate people to get out and vote," she said. "I think it's just a matter of whether the sense of urgency is there."

The group will be targeting busy summer events with a high volume of Hispanic attendants. On top of their community outreach efforts, they plan on going to different stores to advertise and general canvassing over different communities in the state.

The impact of a first experience voting can be a powerful memory. Masha Boguslavsky, a Russian immigrant, moved to the United States 13 years ago. She now works for Community United, but still remembers her the first time she voted in the U.S. during the Bush-Gore race.

"We're becoming more diverse in Utah," Boguslavsky said. "I represent diversity, even though I'm not Hispanic."

While the minority populations are growing in the state, whether or not they are represented is another question. Morales said the Hispanic population eligible to vote in that state is under-represented with low voter turnout and registration.

"What we're noticing is that we have a larger community in the state that's eligible to vote that hasn't registered," Morales said, "and we want to make sure we're getting to them and that they're informed of how important their votes are."

The program will continue though to Oct. 8 when the organization will collect and deliver voter registration forms to county clerk offices.

e-mail: gbarker@desnews.com