San Antonio, Texas, August 24, 2009. - Southwest Voter Registration Educa tion Project (SVREP) will mark 35 years of voter registration, voter education and mobilization across Texas and the United States at its annual commemorative banquet on Thursday, August 27, 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, 600 E. Market St., Lone Star Ballroom in San Antonio, Texas. The reception begins at 6:00 PM, followed by the dinner and program at 7:00 PM. San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will deliver the keynote address, Senator Leticia Van de Putte will make special remarks, and, Ms. Elsa Ramon, WOAI-TV news anchor, will serve as the mistress of ceremonies.

“The Latino electorate is the youngest and fastest growing electorate in America. Compared to the 2004 election cycle, Latino voter registration increased by 2.8 million and over 1.8 million more Latino voters cast their vote in the 2008 general election,” said Antonio González, SVREP President. In 2008,125,000 new Latino voters were added to the election rolls through SVREP’s partnerships with hundreds of Latino leaders and several national organizations. Of the Latinos SVREP registered in a seven-state effort that year, 23,000 were high school and college students in Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and New Carolina. In Texas, SVREP registered 23,000 new Latino voters and mobilized 50,000 Latinas for the state primaries.

Since the late activist William C. Ve lásquez first opened SVREP’s doors in 1974s, the organization has trained over 100,000 Latino leaders across the America and has registered to vote 2.5 million Latinos. Velásquez’s legacy is evident in the growing influence of the diverse Latino voting base in more recent elections.

In 2008, the Latino electorate grew to about 12,148,790 registered voters and cast an estimated 9,701,288 votes in the November presidential election, according to the William C. Velásquez Institute (WCVI). This represents a 79.85 percent turnout figure for Latino registered voters. Latinos also represented 7.43 percent of all votes cast in the United States in November. Five million Latinos are registered to vote in Texas and California alone and another 1.3 million are registered in Florida. More than half of the Latino expansion is in states where SVREP works to increase Latino participation.

"We are ready to move to our next phase in the upcoming months. SVREP will spearhead activities leading up to the 2009 and 2010 election cycles and work with hundreds of leaders in Bexar, Cameron, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Nueces, and Hidalgo counties,” states Lydia Camarillo, SVREP Vice President. SVREP will also launch nonpartisan efforts in California, Colorado, New Mexico and Florida this year.

Tickets and tables for the 35th commemorative banquet are still available. Call 210-922-0225 or visit http://svrep.org/banquet/2009/LV2009SADinner.htm to reserve your space(s).

###

SVREP is the nations largest and oldest organization of its kind; nonpartisan, nonprofit, organization committed to increasing the Latino electorate in America’s democracy.Since it opened its doors, SVREP has registered over 2.5 million Latinos across the southwest and the southeast.