Hispanic Voters Come of Age

Four states hold primaries Tuesday. Hispanics make up 20 percent of Texas voters, Hispanics comprise only 1.5 percent of the electorate in Ohio; 5.6 percent in Rhode Island, and 0.6 percent in Vermont.

Hispanics have lagged behind other voters in their political power mostly because so many of them were under 18.

• More than 5 million Latino citizens, either U.S.-born or naturalized, were ages 18 to 29 as of September 2007, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
• 400,000 U.S.-born Latinos a year are joining the voting-age population by turning 18.

The power of that fast-growing slice of the Latino vote may soon be put to the test in Texas, where Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are competing fiercely for the support of Hispanic voters in the state's March 4 Democratic primary.

• About a half million registered voters in Texas have Hispanic surnames, and about a third of the state's eligible Hispanic voters are 18 to 29.

Nationally, the young Latino population is growing so quickly that older community organizations are having a hard time keeping up, said Maria Teresa Petersen, executive director of Voto Latino, a nonpartisan group.

Voto Latino is trying to reach young voters through the Web and text messages to get them to the polls.

• About 78 percent of English-dominant Latinos are online.

• 49 percent of Latino cell phone users send and receive text messages.

The group plans to text get-out-the-vote messages to young Hispanics.

While the debate over immigration is driving some young Latinos to the polls, their interests extend to other issues, such as education, the war and the economy.