But some doubt that the rallies' cry of 'Today we march, tomorrow we vote' will come true

LOS ANGELES (By Peggy Lowe, Orange County Register)September 11, 2005 — Books open, pens ready, the 50 people spent a quiet Sunday morning on what Hispanic leaders hope will be a loud wake-up call to the rest of America.

These few gathered in a meeting room of a downtown hotel were being trained in how to register Hispanics to vote. It's part of a major effort to re-energize the millions who marched in the streets last spring and to translate that energy into voting clout.

Sunday's training was the last event in the five-day National Hispanic Congreso, held here last week. Groups attending the meeting and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project promise a historic Hispanic voter boom, with hundreds of thousands of new voters by the fall election.

Workers admit the plan is ambitious and say it could be very difficult given Hispanics' traditional reluctance to vote.

Erich Pfuehler, state director of the Proyecto de las Voces del Valle in Stockton, was training with the group at the Sheraton Hotel on Sunday. His group's goal is to register 10,000 new voters by the fall election. So far, they have 3,000 Hispanics among the 5,000 they've gathered.

"Some of this is a test, in a way," Pfuehler said. "There are some challenges with turnout. We're hoping to prove that history wrong."

In Orange County, Deborah Vasquez, a Santa Ana attorney, has led an effort that has registered 2,000 Hispanic voters over the past year and is attempting to reach 5,000 by Oct. 23, the last day to register to vote.

Vasquez, who heads up the American Hispanic Voter Education Fund, said she's not seeing the excitement brought on by the citizenship marches moving into the polling places.

"There's a disconnect with what's going on in the world and voting," Vasquez said. "People don't get it. They don't understand how their vote will help anything."

Another problem for all groups is that many Hispanics are undocumented, so the would-be voter must first win citizenship. Most groups are doing voter education and some offer citizenship classes, Vasquez said.

The emotional marches in major cities last spring don't appear to be creating any effects so far. A review of voter registration figures last week by the Associated Press from Chicago, Denver, Houston, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other major urban areas that saw large rallies showed no sign of a historic new voter boom that could sway elections. Orange County numbers were unavailable.

But others say challenges to the community like the U.S. House bill last spring that criminalized illegal immigrants can create voter mobilization. After the passage of Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative that barred illegal immigrants from state services, the number of registered Hispanic voters grew by more than 25 percent, according to the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.