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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nPresident Donald Trump\u2019s harsh rhetoric<\/a> toward Latinos and failed promise to build a wall<\/a> may well be the driving force behind a significant increase in Latino voter registration in California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Voter registration advocates point to the galvanizing political climate of the Trump era as one of the reasons behind double-digit registration increases in heavily Latino counties, as well as a solid increase statewide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump\u2019s \u201crhetoric against immigrant communities\u201d backfired, instead motivating younger Latinos to register to vote, said Janet Bernabe, regional coordinator in Riverside for Mi Familia Vota, a non-partisan social justice group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Latino voter registration also was boosted by competitive elections, mobilization by political parties and activists, and possibly a new factor in the nation\u2019s most populous state \u2014 automatic motor voter registration.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n All told, Latino voter registration increased about six percentage points across the state last year. But the percentage of eligible Latino voters registered to vote still lags behind the registration rate of California\u2019s total eligible population, research shows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Latino community organizers are trying to close the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA lot of people in the Latino community don\u2019t understand the process,\u201d said Bernabe. \u201cIt\u2019s intimidating, especially for first time voters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Selena Aguilera, 23, is one of those first-time voters. A college student living in Poplar in Tulare County, she\u2019s the daughter of immigrants and her father is employed by a farming company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aguilera cast her first vote in the November election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said a girlfriend who is undocumented and cannot vote urged her to register. When her ballot arrived by mail, Aguilera did some Google research on the propositions, consulted a friend, filled it out and mailed it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was excited,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to know who won.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jose Serna, 32, also lives in Poplar. He\u2019s the manager of a wrecking yard, and is married with three stepchildren and a baby boy. Lately he\u2019s been a volunteer for an immigrant rights organization in Porterville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He registered to vote in 2016 at the urging of his sister, a volunteer at the immigrant rights organization, but didn\u2019t vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was younger then, and nothing really politically affected my day to day, but after that when Trump was elected, I started seeing how much that affected me,\u201d he said. \u201cOur customers were immigrants, were people affected by what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some Latino voters supported the president despite his rhetoric. He improved his margins in a number of majority-Latino counties, especially in Florida and Texas, according to news reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n California\u2019s Secretary of State does not track voter registration by race or ethnicity, but researchers mine census and other data to paint a fuller picture of the electorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mindy Romero is the founder and director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy<\/a>, formerly the California Civic Engagement Project and part of the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy based in Sacramento.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a research assistant professor, she studies questions of race and ethnicity in voting. She shared some of her latest research with CalMatters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statewide, 88% of eligible voters were registered to vote in the November election<\/a>, according to the Secretary of State. That\u2019s a 10 percentage point jump <\/a>in four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By contrast, Latino registration rose about six percentage points, to about 75%, according to Romero\u2019s research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a persistent gap of 10 to 12 percentage points between Latino registration and registration of all eligible voters, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s increasing\u201d in voter registration, she said. However, \u201cthe disparity has stayed roughly the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Statewide, 88% of eligible voters were registered to vote in the November election. That\u2019s a 10 percentage point jump in four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By contrast, Latino registration rose about six percentage points.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Tulare County in the Central Valley and San Bernardino County in Southern California are both majority Latino \u2014 Tulare is 66% Latino, San Bernardino is 54% \u2014 and both counties showed big jumps in voter registration between 2016 and 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n San Bernardino County saw the biggest increase in the state among large counties of more than half a million people, with 83% of eligible voters registered, according to the Secretary of State. That\u2019s a jump of 15 percentage points in four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tulare County saw the biggest increase among medium-sized counties of 100,000 people to half a million, with 75% of eligible voters registered, up 16 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For San Bernardino county, Latino registration increased about 10 percentage points to almost 71% of eligible Latino voters, Romero\u2019s research shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Tulare County, Latino registration increased about 15 points to about 64% of eligible Latino voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople have been motivated by both the Donald Trump presidential races as well as the 2018 midterm elections,\u201d Romero said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, \u201cwe\u2019ve seen a lot of mobilization across the country, a lot of mobilization within California,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Competitive local races also boost voter registration, she said. Congressional races in Tulare and San Bernardino counties in 2018 and 2020 heightened interest and energized groups getting out the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Tulare County two years ago, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, faced a well-funded challenger<\/a> in prosecutor Andrew Janz of Fresno, a Democrat. The district includes much of Tulare County. Nunes won, but by a lower margin than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In San Bernardino County in 2020, Republican Jay Obernolte won an open seat in Congressional District 8 against Democrat Christine Busber. The district includes Mono, Inyo, and part of San Bernardino County. He won with 56% of the vote, a large margin but less than the winning percentage of incumbent Republican Paul Cook two years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Voter registration drives are traditionally local affairs involving boots on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c(Young people) think they have to vote on everything. We tell them to not vote (on a proposition) if they are not comfortable. We want them to be thinking.\u201d<\/p>\nSuzanna Aguilera-Marrero, Tulare County Democratic Central Committee<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Suzanna Aguilera-Marrero of Visalia is a member of the Tulare County Democratic Central Committee. \u201cWe\u2019ve been doing voter registration at the high schools,\u201d she said. \u201cBy law, we have two days a year to go to the schools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Young people \u201cthink they have to vote on everything,\u201d she said. \u201cWe tell them to not vote (on a proposition) if they are not comfortable. We want them to be thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mari Perez-Ruiz is chair of the California Democratic Renters Council, a grassroots organization that has been active in Tulare County urging a yes vote for the rent control Proposition 21, which did not pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt every event we\u2019ve been registering voters,\u201d Perez-Ruiz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jo Ann Bollen is chair of the voter registration committee of the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee, and field director for the local chapter of Field Team 6, whose slogan is \u201cRegister Democrats, Save the World.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople were so motivated to get rid of Trump,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The opening line she used when approaching potential prospects at college campuses, the courthouse, bus depot and Food 4 Less was \u201cExcuse me, can you help me save the world from Trump?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe could have done even more if we didn\u2019t have the pandemic,\u201d she said. The pandemic all but eliminated face to face interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Tulare County, Republican Central Committee member James Henderson said \u201cthe swing to the hard left of the Democratic Party,\u201d population growth, more conservatives moving to the area and motor voter registration boosted registration numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe made the strategic decision to prioritize voter turnout of already registered voters.\u201d<\/p>\nPablo Rodriguez, executive director of Communities for a New California<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In April 2018, automatic voter registration took effect at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Anyone getting a new driver\u2019s license, license renewal or address change is automatically registered to vote unless that person opts out. The law also requires pre-registration of those under 18 years old, who would be automatically registered when they turn 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The purpose of the law mandating \u201cmotor voter\u201d registration was to make it easier to register to vote, according to the law\u2019s author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For community organizers, automatic voter registration makes voter registration drives less crucial, said Pablo Rodriguez, executive director of Communities for a New California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe made the strategic decision to prioritize voter turnout of already registered voters,\u201d he said. \u201cFor the same budget as a voter registration campaign, we can now directly engage via phone and door-to-door canvassing three to four times the total number of voters that a voter registration campaign would.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Automatic registration does appear to be pushing up voter registration numbers slowly but steadily, said Romero, the voting trends researcher, who co-authored a study about it<\/a> for the Public Policy Institute of California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the same voters might have registered anyway, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe need more data years under our belts to be able to say that definitely,\u201d Romero said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Votebeat<\/a> is a national media collaboration about the administration and integrity of, and issues regarding, the unprecedented 2020 election. In California, CalMatters<\/a> is hosting the collaboration with the Fresno Bee, the Long Beach Post and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n .<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>Lewis is a Votebeat reporter covering election integrity. He lives in Visalia in the San Joaquin Valley. For 22 years, he was a reporter at The Fresno Bee covering agriculture, water, environment, police, courts and politics, and wrote a column focused on Visalia and Tular<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Lewis Griswold, CalMatters President Donald Trump’s harsh rhetoric toward Latinos and failed promise to build a wall may well be the driving force behind a significant increase in Latino voter registration in California. Voter […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[83,81],"class_list":["post-13246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-california","tag-california","tag-latino-vote"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13247,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13246\/revisions\/13247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018I wanted to know who won\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Disparity stays \u2018roughly the same\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\u2018Motivated to get rid of Trump\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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