Naturalization To Voter Push Is Running Out Of Time

The presidential election is seven months away.  That leaves roughly six months to register people in time to vote in November. The ambitious goal, reported by NewsTaco, is to register 2 million new Latino voters by then. That’s 33,3333 voters registered every month starting in May, or about 1,111 every day.

At this stage of the game any smart business person or team coach will tell you to work smart, and not hard, to reach your goal. The cliche is to go for the low hanging fruit, because its easier to get to and brings the highest returns. In Latino voter registration parlance that means immigrants – case in point, a report by Fox News Latino:

The Department of Homeland Security says an estimated 12.6 million people were holding so-called green cards given to legal permanent U.S. residents in 2010, including 8.1 million people who already qualify for naturalization but have not applied for citizenship.

Seven months should be more than enough time to reach these immigrants on the verge of becoming voters and nudge them over the line. Of course, it’s easier said than done. And it’s not like I’m the first person to think of it:

The “Become a Citizen Now!” campaign began in March, hoping to help 5,000 immigrants complete the daunting application process to become citizens and register to vote. It is targeting foreign-born residents who have been in the country long enough to qualify for naturalization in Massachusetts, New York, California, Florida, Maryland, Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Tennessee, Illinois, Wisconsin and New Hampshire. Nearly 500 citizenship applications have been completed so far.

“Become a Citizen Now!” is a volunteer group put together by a coalition of organizations that support immigrants. Their aim is to carve a chunk out of the 8.1 million potential new voters of the green card holding population.

Their task is urgent. The seven month time table that I mentioned at the beginning is a mirage. They’ve only got a few days to complete their work.

“Those immigrants that apply for their citizenship before the end of April are likely to be able to vote in this election in November,” said Josh Hoyt, a co-chair of the National Partnership for New Americans.

This is going to be a busy weekend for them. If you want to lend a hand, find out how you can help at their website.