The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Policy Forum is a four-day conference that takes place every year in Washington D.C. during Hispanic Heritage Month with a mission to develop the next generation of Latino leaders through education, empowerment and connection in order to shape the nation's future.
Thousands joined CHCI earlier this month as they celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month by bringing in a powerful lineup of Presidential candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders and Governor Martin O'Malley, who addressed the crowd and the press in private forums. Texas Congressman, Joaquin Castro and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi were also among some of the special guest. Secretary of State and Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama attended the conference 38th Annual Awards Gala Thursday night. President Obama pumped up the crowd by addressing the young leaders in the room adding, "to be a leader you have to stand for something." The president urged the crowd to go out and get that Latino vote, adding that it's the only way to change one of the our biggest challenges, our immigration system.
"Immigration grows our economy. America's greatness doesn't come from making laws but from creating opportunities. Go vote!"
The conference, which honors and encourages young political leaders, focused their message on education of Latino communities by engaging them on the importance of the Latino vote in 2016.
Rep. Linda Sanchez, Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairwoman, was adamant in her speech saying, "I am on a personal vendetta to get every Latino that I know that is eligible to vote to register and to participate."
Gabriel Sanchez, Director of Research for Latino Decision polling firm, said approximately 13.1 million Latinos are projected to vote in 2016. The number of Latinos eligible to vote is expected to double in 20 years. The missing potential in the Latino community is striking, when the more 12 million Latinos who could vote in 2014 but were not registered at the state level are examined.
Sanchez answered questions from the audience; also pointing out how difficult the system makes it for Latinos to vote because the lack of voter identification, but how some states are making substantial changes to improve numbers.
In Arizona, where local immigration policy is vigorous, sees 458,000 Latinos eligible yet unregistered, while 687,00 are registered.
In California, 3.5 million Latinos are eligible to vote but are not registered, in addition to the 3.3 million already registered, according to Latino Decisions.
In Texas, 2.6 million are eligible in addition to the 2.6 million already registered.
In Colorado, a key battleground state driven by Latino growth, 213,000 are eligible to vote and not registered; 321,000 are registered.
For more stats on your state take a look into the map provided from Latino Decisions.
Anabel Maldonado, an Arizona community organizer and current Public Policy Fellow with CHCI said, 'Attending the conference and engaging with so many national movers and shakers makes me hopeful for the future. Not only are we having policy discussions on the Latino voting power but we are also acting on those conversations. If I, as a future Latino leader, can empower my community and plant seeds of change wherever I go, I think 2016 will start to seem a little less scary for our Latino community.'
