LATINO GROUP TRAINS CAMERAS ON NEW VOTERS : FEW PROBLEMS FOUND IN ANTI-INTIMIDATION EFFORT.Byline: Dennis Love Daily News Staff Writer They weren't sure what they might find Tuesday, out among new voters at the polling places on Election Day. In the end, it didn't really matter. ``History has shown that we need to be here,'' said Gabriel Tenorio, a 23-year-old Latino activist and one of dozens of volunteers who swept across the city of Los Angeles
``Our first concern is to make sure that none of our new voters are intimidated or discouraged in any way,'' said Adrian Gomez, 41, who, along with 28-year-old Eduardo DeLaTorre, accompanied Tenorio on his rounds Tuesday. ``There were some problems four years ago in Orange County with some intimidation, and there were indications that at least one group might be out with signs and fliers that might have been confusing to first-time voters,'' Gomez said. ``So it seems like a good idea to be out and around.'' Tenorio, Gomez and DeLaTorre are part of the Active Citizenship Active citizenship generally refers to a philosophy espoused by some organizations and educational institutions. It often states that members of companies or nation-states have certain roles and responsibilities to society and the environment, although those members may not have Campaign, a year-old strategy developed by VOICE (Valley Organized in Community Efforts), a San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. Valley-based, multiethnic organization which engineers naturalization naturalization, official act by which a person is made a national of a country other than his or her native one. In some countries naturalized persons do not necessarily become citizens but may merely acquire a new nationality. and voter registration Voter registration is the requirement in some democracies for citizens to check in with some central registry before being allowed to vote in elections. An effort to get people to register is known as a voter registration drive. Centralized/compulsory vs. efforts and seeks to develop new political leadership. The very presence of roving bands of camcorder-carrying activists is yet another reflection of how immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. has become an increasingly divisive tinderbox tin·der·box n. 1. A metal box for holding tinder. 2. A potentially explosive place or situation: referred to the crowded prison as a tinderbox of suppressed violence. issue in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . ``It's used as a wedge issue wedge issue n. A sharply divisive political issue, especially one that is raised by a candidate or party in hopes of attracting or disaffecting a portion of an opponent's customary supporters. ,'' Tenorio said Tuesday as he stood outside the Arminta Street Elementary School in North Hollywood, one of several polling places visited during the course of the afternoon. ``And people are aware of that, very sensitive to it.'' In the early going at least, most of the complaints heard by the trio involved the absence of sample ballots and other official information that each registered voter is supposed to receive by mail. ``I never got anything,'' said Minerva Ortiz, 82, who voted at the Arminta Street school, as DeLaTorre's video camera rolled. But, she added, she was treated hospitably at the poll: ``It went just fine. Everyone is very nice.'' No significant new-voter problems had been reported at any polls in Los Angeles by late afternoon. The cause of the Latino concerns stemmed from the plans of an anti-illegal immigration group, Voices of Citizens Together, which handed out signs that said ``Only Citizens May Vote,'' that volunteers intended to display at polling places on Tuesday. Critics charged it was part of a cynical effort to confuse or scare newly documented voters like Ortiz. ``This has been blown out of proportion,'' Spencer said. ``We've been made out to be jackbooted jack·boot·ed also jack-boot·ed adj. 1. Wearing jackboots. 2. Cruelly and violently oppressive: "a revival of the aggressive, jack-booted militarism of the Thirties and Forties" thugs beating up young kids.'' He said that he had not heard of any of the leaflets being distributed. For Tenorio, Gomez and DeLaTorre, the fairly quiet afternoon was less a clash with the opposition than a reaffirming exercise in good citizenship. Many of those interviewed, like Rafael Ramirez, a maintenance worker at an apartment complex, talked about their pride in voting for the first time. ``It's a very good feeling, to have become a citizen and now to have voted,'' Ramirez said. ``It makes all the hard work worthwhile. I feel that I am a part of things.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Minerva Ortiz, 82, of North Hollywood, center, speaks with a VOICE member. Tina Gerson/Daily News |
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