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With registration drives as diverse as the population they seek to empower, Latino groups across the nation reported high numbers of newly signed voters this week as state deadlines fast approached. With New York's voter registration deadline on Friday and limits in key states like Florida and New Mexico passing earlier in the week, traditional drives and more controversial efforts may have resulted in more than 2 million Hispanic voters added to the rolls since the 2000 presidential election. That would bring the number of Latino registered voters to nearly 9.5 million nationwide, and represent a 26.7 percent increase over the last four years. The rate meets ambitious goals set by national Hispanic groups. "The Latino community has reached a critical mass," said Victor Landa, central regional director of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, a national nonprofit based in San Antonio, Texas, that helped to set the benchmark of 2 million. "The politicians are taking note of us. But we've been here all along, little by little, increasing our numbers." [more

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Convincing Latinos in Minnesota their vote counts. [more ]