FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2004

Latino Community Launches Massive Campaign to
Mobilize Vote in L.A. Mayoral Elections
Goal is to Register and Turnout 30,000 New Voters

Los Angeles, CA – Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), the Nation’s leading nonpartisan Latino voter mobilization organization announced today that it has launched a major effort for the Los Angeles Mayoral election in March and May of 2005. “Our goal is to register and turnout 30,000 new voters in the Mayoral elections,” said SVREP President Antonio Gonzalez. “We’re off to a good start with 7,500 new registrations gathered by a dozen committees since September of 2004,” he added.

If recent history is an indicator, Latinos will vote in unprecedented numbers during the 2005 Mayoral primary and run-off elections. According to an analysis conducted by the William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), Latinos cast 21.7% of all votes in the April 2001 Mayoral primary even though they only represented 20.38% of the registered voters of Los Angeles in the same year. The June run-off numbers were even more impressive with Latinos comprising 24% of all votes cast and turned out at a rate of 43.3.% of registered voters compared to the city wide rate of 37%.

Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP) is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed solely to the political empowerment of Latino communities through voter registration, voter education and voter participation. SVREP was established in 1974 by the late William C. Velásquez to encourage civic and political participation in Latino and other underrepresented communities. Since its inception, SVREP has registered over 2.2 million Latino voters throughout the southwest and Florida. SVREP has offices in San Antonio, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; and Phoenix, Arizona. Visit www.svrep.org for more information.

# # #