WASHINGTON, DC -- Democracia U.S.A. (DUSA), a national non-partisan Hispanic civic engagement program, announced today that it has registered over 105,342 new Hispanic voters from Arizona, Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania—creating a 27 percent increase in the number of registered Hispanic voters in Pennsylvania alone. DUSA, a project of People For the American Way Foundation, has active operations throughout Hispanic neighborhoods in each of these states.



“Democracia USA’s mission is to increase Hispanic engagement and participation in the political process. Voting is the first step. It’s good for our families, our communities, and for our democracy,” said DUSA National Executive Director Jorge Mursuli. “There is a growing sense of political engagement in the Hispanic community, and a sense of emerging political power. We had tremendous success in Florida, and we’ve exceeded our goals with our expansion into three new states during this mid-term election. We expect to expand much farther in the 2008 cycle.”



The breakdown of new voter registrations by state is: 56,003 in Florida; 25,669 in Pennsylvania; 20,560 in New Jersey; and 3,110 in Arizona. In Pennsylvania, which has the lowest proportion of Latinos in its population, DUSA’s registration drive increased the number of registered Hispanic voters by 27 percent since 2004. The increase in both Florida and New Jersey was six percent. The voter drive in Arizona was a smaller pilot project, where the percentage increase in registered Hispanic voters was just under one percent.



Mursuli said the 2006 registrations were carried out with remarkable speed by a total of just 500 canvassers and organizers on the ground. DUSA’s registration work in Florida was carried out in 30 weeks. The organization spent 21 weeks registering voters in Pennsylvania, 10 weeks in New Jersey, and seven weeks in Arizona.