New Latino voters realize their importance

Carmen Mireles is the face of a new kind of voter. Next month will mark her first vote in a presidential election since becoming a citizen three years ago.

"I feel like I am an important person," Mireles, 53, said with pride Wednesday during a break from her job as a custodian at Radio KDNA in Granger.

Latino voter registration and turnout in the Yakima Valley has been low historically. But renewed interest in the presidential race and an intensive voter-registration effort by Democrats and Latinos over the summer appears to be making a difference, at least anecdotally, according to Corky Mattingly, Yakima County auditor.

"We are definitely seeing more Hispanic surnames," she said.

The percentage of Latino registrations has increased modestly since the primary in August. As of Wednesday, 17.6 percent of registered voters had Latino surnames, up from 17.3 percent in August.

A comparable figure from 2004 isn't available because the county didn't keep track at that time.

More than 6,200 of the county's 97,449 registered voters are new since the first of the year, according to the secretary of state.

Consider Saida Birrueta, 35, also of Granger. She's not a new voter but she's spreading the word to others who are. After she became a citizen in 2004 and voted in that presidential election, she started to nudge her 62-year-old mother. As a result, Anita Rodriguez will vote for the first time Nov. 4 after gaining citizenship earlier this year.

"I encouraged her to vote. She now knows how important it is," Birrueta said.

The county was forced by the U.S. Justice Department in 2004 to raise awareness of voting rights within the Latino community. The county began using a bilingual ballot in 2004.

Yakima County is about 40 percent Hispanic or Latino, according to 2006 Census estimates, a potentially powerful supply of votes for either party.

If Mireles and Birrueta are any indication, the Latino vote in the Valley is leaning Democratic.

"I am going for Obama," Mireles said. "I watch the news every night and he is a good man. I hope he follows through on immigration reform."

Mireles has been following the presidential campaign on "NBC Nightly News" and listens to Radio KDNA, a Spanish public radio station. It's been airing public service announcements encouraging listeners to vote.

Birrueta, a program coordinator for KDNA, says she thinks the act of voting is important to all Latinos, regardless of who they favor.

"We as Latinos have a lot of needs and the candidates have to know this," she said.

Because one of her top issues is access to affordable health care, Birrueta said she favors Obama, who promises to cut individual premiums by $2,500 a year.

"Obama is on the side we are on," she said.

* Leah Beth Ward can be reached at 577-7626 or lward@yakimaherald.com.