LatinaLista — The warnings have been non-stop — Latinos won’t turn out to vote or Latinos won’t turn out in any greater number than 2008. Forget that voter registration rates are up among Latinos in four states that report by ethnicity, according to Pew Hispanic.
There is not yet any nationwide data on Latino voter registration levels so far in 2012. In the only four states that report such records by ethnicity — Alabama, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina — the 2012 registration levels of Hispanics have already surpassed the 2008 levels.
While not representative of the nation as a whole, it is a promising sign that these states are not isolated cases where Latinos have turned out to register to vote — and there are already signs that Latinos are proving the naysayers wrong by turning out in larger numbers for early voting in these same states.
In fact, early voting lines have been just as long as they were in 2008 with more cities in different states reporting as such:
Early Voting Continues On Record Pace With Less Than A Week To Go
Early voting turnout starts big
High early voter turnout in Chicago, suburbs so far
Early voting draws 25 percent of Nevada voters
Even if Latinos didn’t turn out this time around anymore than they did in 2008, it would still be a good turnout but signs are all pointing to the fact that Latinos won’t disappoint.
