New Web Site Targets Latinos in Effort to Get Out Their Vote

A Web site aimed at galvanizing Latinos to vote in the next presidential election started up this week.

The Web site offers an array of information on candidates, issues and registering to vote. Its address is https://www.latinvote.org.

Latino voters could be key in some states next year, including California and Texas. By November 2000 an estimated 21.6 million Latinos will be eligible to vote, but only 6.8 million are registered, according to the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, one of the site’s sponsors.

In 1996, only 27% of Latino adults voted nationwide, according to census figures. For the overall population, the voter turnout was 54%. In California, the Latino vote grew from 7% of the electorate in 1992 to 10% in 1996, polls show.

“On the verge of the new millennium, Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, and given their influence in key states, will play a decisive role in upcoming elections,” said Fernando Espuelas, chairman and CEO of Star Media Network, one of the leading Internet media companies in the U.S. and Latin America.

Star Media and the Assn. of Hispanic Advertising Agencies are the other sponsors of the free site, which is intended to be nonpartisan.

The number of Latinos online is surging. Though only 2% of U.S. Latinos were online in 1994, 15% of Latino households--or an estimated 4.5 million users--were connected in 1998, according to one recent study.

Visitors to the Web site, which is in Spanish, can see stories about presidential candidates and call up state-by-state information about voter registration deadlines and requirements.