HISPANICS SEEKING POLITICAL OFFICE FACE BARRIERS

There is an excellent article by Victor Manuel Ramos in today's Orlando Sentinel that looks at the problems Hispanics who want to achieve election to political office face throughout Central Florida, and in many cases the same issues that prompted the federal Department of Justice to bring Osceola County into court are seen elsewhere in the region.

This week the DOJ sued Osceola County seeking to change it's at-large election of county commissioners, claiming that it illegally dilutes the voting strength of it's 35 percent Hispanic population and makes it unreasonably difficult for Hispanic candidates to be elected. Speculation is that Osceola's county seat, Kissimmee, may be the feds' next target; it has a Hispanic population of 46 percent.

Some of the issues brought up in the article are:

--- Lack of biliugual ballots. The Hispanic population of most counties in Central Florida is above five percent, which is the federal trigger for requiring bilingual ballots in a minority community's primary language. Presently only Orange and Osceola counties offer bilingual ballots, and Osceola only did so after a previous threat of litigation by the DOJ. Most counties are apparantly waiting until after the 2010 census.

--- At large elections. Generally makes it difficult for minorities to be elected to office. It's legal, as long as it doesn't produce a pattern of discrimination. A number of cities with significant Hispanic populations use such a system to elect city commissioners. Among these are Kissimmee, Apopka, Casselberry, and Pierson.

--- Very low Hispanic voter registration. That speaks for itself, especially in communities which have high Hispanic populations. You can't expect representation if your people don't register and vote! That's the case with any community. While one definate issue is that citizenship continues to be an elusive factor for a number of migrants, especially Mexicans, the percentage of eligible voters who actually register overall is also low.