Elections officers reach out to Latino voters

The Secretary of State’s Elections Division is stepping up efforts to reach out to Spanish-speaking voters.

Part of its outreach effort is sending out 3,500 voter registration forms printed in Spanish.

“We believe it is very important that all of our qualified citizens have a chance to register to vote so they can participate in our elections and have their voices heard,” Secretary of State Sam Reed said.

“This voter outreach effort is a great way to let more citizens know about registering to vote this year. We have a major election in November that will cover races from U.S. president down to city council. Some of our Spanish-speaking citizens might not be aware of this registration opportunity.”

Oct. 4 is the deadline for online or mail-in voter registrations and transfers prior to the Nov. 4 General Election. Location information for each County Auditor is available on the Internet at www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/auditors.aspx.

The voter registration forms were inserted into the weekly edition of La Voz, a Spanish-language newspaper that is distributed in Tacoma and parts of Eastern Washington. They will be included in all editions through mid-August.

David Cortinas, Publisher of La Voz, donated the cost of insertion. In total, 22,000 Spanish-language forms were provided to Cortinas, which accounts for 60 percent of the year’s supply of Spanish-language voter registration forms.

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