How to Engage Latino Voters

After a meeting about voter engagement at the Open Society Foundations, I had the chance to speak with Maria Teresa Kumar, the executive director and cofounder of our grantee Voto Latino. She described three surprisingly simple and effective ways her bipartisan organization encourages Latinos to make their voices heard in U.S. politics: It asks them to participate and to engage their communities in choosing our leaders, and it empowers them with information.

Latinos have a big role to play in the 2012 elections, Kumar said. The 2008 electoral map has changed drastically and there are now 50 million Latinos in the U.S., many of them potential voters.