News from the Orlando Sentinel that mention Nancy Acevedo, Chairman of the Central Florida RNHA Chapter (www.rnhacentralflorida.org). Nancy is also running for the Seminole School Board.   I want to strongly encourage you to contribute (any amount) to her campaign. Let's support these efforts to get more elected Hispanic Republicans.   Pedro Celis Republican National Hispanic Assembly Washington State Chairman   P.S. Please don't delay in sending some financial support to Nancy. I did delay but I wrote her a check today.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/elections/orl-lochispanicvote14051404may14,0,5468428.story?coll=orl-home-headlines

By Willoughby Mariano
Sentinel Staff Writer

Friday May 14, 2004

KISSIMMEE -- Along with booming salsa tunes and steaming plates of Puerto Rican delicacies, leaders of a massive voter-registration effort served notice Thursday that Hispanics will be a major force in the upcoming presidential election.

"If we think about it, the last election was won right here with 537 votes," said Mari Carmen Aponte, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration.

Aponte was referring to Republican George W. Bush's wafer-thin margin in Florida over Democrat Al Gore in 2000 that landed him in the White House. She said the November race between Bush and John Kerry, the Democrats' presumptive nominee, could hinge on Hispanic turnout.

"Hey, we've registered 37,000. You can call that Boricua swing," Aponte said, using a term some Puerto Ricans prefer to call themselves.

With those words, the administration opened the state's new headquarters for a nationwide, two-year, $12 million voter-registration drive dubbed "¡Que Nada Nos Detenga!" ("Let Nothing Stop Us") targeted at Puerto Ricans and other Hispanics. The registration drive already has netted 225,000 new voters nationwide, including the 37,000 in Florida. The local headquarters will coordinate roughly 100 field workers across Florida.

Thursday's rally took place in the heart of the Interstate 4 corridor, where pollsters think the state's 27 electoral votes will be won or lost. Osceola County is also the epicenter of Florida's Puerto Rican population, a growing chunk of the highly sought-after Hispanic vote. Since 1990, the number of Puerto Ricans in Florida has doubled to 650,000, with most of that growth centered in Central Florida, according to agency and census numbers.

Unlike Cuban-Americans, whose loyalties have allied them with President Bush and his brother Gov. Jeb Bush, Puerto Ricans are a wild card in the upcoming presidential election.

"Cubans have lived long enough in South Florida that they are well-involved in the political process. They came here a long, long time ago," said Nancy Acevedo, chairwoman of the Central Florida chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. "We are learning that process here in Central Florida now."

There are signs at the voter-registration headquarters that education is under way. A life-sized picture of Puerto Rican Gov. Sila Calderón hangs on the wall among maps of Orlando voting districts and area Puerto Rican demographics.

Politicians on hand for the rally ticked off what they have done for the Puerto Rican community and emphasized the importance of their vote. Puerto Rican administration officials are betting on fellow islanders' untapped potential. While they vote heavily on the island, where turnout is generally more than 80 percent, far fewer living on the mainland bother to vote, according to the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration.

"Democracy is not a spectator sport in Puerto Rico," said Celeste Diaz, an administration spokeswoman.

Stateside, however, voter turnout has historically trailed those of non-Hispanic whites. Only 63 percent of registered Hispanics in Orange and Osceola cast ballots in the 2000 presidential election, according to county tallies. Nationwide, only 33 percent of mainland Puerto Ricans turn out to vote, Aponte said.

A language barrier, more complex stateside voting procedures and discrimination have been hurdles to Puerto Rican participation. In 2000, Spanish-speaking voters complained that Osceola poll workers discouraged them from voting by requiring they speak English and asking them to show green cards.

With higher rates of Puerto Rican and Hispanic turnout, this will change, said Evelyn Rivera, an Orange County Democrat originally from Puerto Rico who is chairwoman of the Puerto Rican Democratic Caucus. The power will translate into more Hispanic politicians who understand that the ethnic group is more than its festive stereotype, she said.

"I hate when politicians come around every, say, three or four years and have a party and speak a few words of Spanish and ask for our vote," Rivera said. "We love parties, but we're more than that."

At the rally, Olga B. Benitez Viera, 64, of Kissimmee signed her voter-registration card and said she wants to see more Puerto Ricans in area politics. Through the years, Benitez Viera has moved back to Puerto Rico several times but said she is always lured back to the mainland by the better lifestyle and opportunity here.

She vowed to cast a ballot at every election.

"It's important for Hispanic people to vote," she said. "That way, we can have more power."

Willoughby Mariano can be reached

at wmariano@orlandosentinel.com

or 407-931-5944.

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I've decided to run for Seminole County School Board District 4,  because I strongly believe in COLLABORATION for excellent schools, INCLUSION of all communities (parents, teachers, administrators, students, and the business community)  and being a FACILITATOR in these efforts.