Dominicans Get Out Republican Vote

Aurora Martinez, a Dominican immigrant who speaks little English, planted herself on Inwood’s Dyckman Street yesterday afternoon and handed out photocopies of a grainy picture of the president as an eager National Guard officer, while shouting to passersby, “Manana Bush.” Before the confused pedestrians could respond, she would say in Spanish, “Tomorrow we are going to celebrate,” and explain the photo would be perfect to place on the wall when President Bush wins today’s election.Standing in front of a wall plastered with Spanish-language posters promoting voting and Bush-Cheney, Ms. Martinez was able to convince most passersby to take at least a picture, not a small victory in a district that is nearly 90% registered as Democrats.The state Republican Party chose this site, deep in Dominican Upper Manhattan and perched between a shop advertising “frutas and vegetales” and a vendor of lingerie and shoes, to open their only New York voter-registration office outside of Albany last March.The Dominican community needs political diversity, said the full-time director of the office, Elizabeth Estrella, an effervescent young woman who has lured a varied crew of newly registered Republican voters. Now that registration deadlines have passed, the spacious and spotless office, which is covered with Spanish-language posters of Republican politicians, has stayed open six days a week providing immigration clinics and answering community-related questions.“What we’re doing here on a local level,” she said, the party is doing on a national level.Latino voting increased by 19% between 1996 and 2000 and will probably increase by another 25%, according to a demographer at the nonpartisan Urban Institute, Jeffrey Passel. With a Spanish speaking president and increasing social conservative trends in the national Latino vote, it is not surprising the Republican Party is focusing new resources on this electorate both on a national and local level.Still, particularly in New York, the Latino vote overall, and especially the Dominican vote, does not look likely to slide toward Republicans anytime soon. In March in the 72nd District, which includes Inwood and Washington Heights, there were 44,108 registered Democrats to 3,801 registered Republicans, according to New York State Board of Elections figures. By the end of last month the board reported the number of registered Democrats had increased by 3,417 and registered Republicans by just 465.Even the man who is arguably the city’s most prominent Republican of Dominican descent, Fernando Mateo, agrees there is a lot of work to be done before the community leaves its allegiances to the Democratic Party.“They come here with the mentality that they are supposed to be Democrat,” said Mr. Mateo, who spoke at the Republican National Convention and claims to have helped raise $1 million for the party from Hispanic voters. “There’s a huge movement for Dominicans to realize that deep in their hearts they are Republicans, but they are led to believe they are Democrats.”

Dominicans Get Out Republican Vote

Dominicans Get Out Republican Vote

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