Fighting for the Rights of Puerto Rican Voters in Florida

• Originally published in THE HARTFORD COURANT on October 29, 2004

Copyright 2004 The Hartford Courant Company  

By: Juan Figueroa
Juan A. Figueroa is former president and general counsel of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York. To leave him a comment, please e-mail him at jfigueroa@universalhealthct.org.


During the 2000 presidential election, Zulma Velez's name mysteriously disappeared from the voter list in Florida. She was surprised and startled. She had voted consistently in the past. But she was told that she could not vote by provisional ballot either. Velez thought, "Que pasa?" ("What's happening?")

Sound familiar? To Puerto Ricans in Florida like Zulma Velez it does. In the 2000 election debacle, news stories focused on the disenfranchisement of African American voters. What didn't make it onto the airwaves was the widespread discrimination against Latino voters, particularly Puerto Ricans living in central Florida.

This bloc of voters is now almost as big as the Cuban American vote, and it's working to make sure that history does not repeat itself. Given how close this year's race seems, Puerto Ricans may influence who gets Florida's coveted 27 electoral votes.

Four years ago, a number of national civil rights organizations, including my former employer, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York, investigated complaints of discrimination and voter intimidation. Complaints ranged from inappropriate requirements for several forms of identification to harassment to people such as Velez disappearing from the voter lists.

The results of those investigations can be found in a report published by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights titled "Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election." The evidence submitted to the commission formed the basis for testimony presented by PRLDEF and others to the U.S. Senate's Committee on Rules and Administration, which eventually led to the passage of the 2002 Help America Vote Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Zulma Velez, who was among the Puerto Ricans who had problems voting four years ago, recalled, "They were saying the same thing [that they were not on the voting list] to other Puerto Ricans who showed up to vote that day. It was horrible."

She said there is still reason to be concerned. She is hoping to stop scams meant to confuse Latino voters, such as this: Official-sounding callers are instructing Latinos to vote by phone or over the Internet -- options that don't exist. Despite these troubling reports, Velez's confidence level is understandably high. She is ready for this year's election.

As the state director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration's nonpartisan voter registration campaign, Que Nada Nos Detenga (Let Nothing Stop Us), she is working to make sure Latino voters are not denied their rights in this election. The numbers and the intensity of PRFAA's voter-education campaign promise to make a pivotal difference in this election.

The national campaign she heads in Florida has registered almost 60,000 new Puerto Ricans and other Latinos, bringing the Puerto Rican total to an estimated 300,000 voters in the state. With a staff of 47, scores of volunteers, billboards and a media blitz on Spanish-language radio, she expects the Puerto Rican vote to be heavy in Florida.

There are now approximately 650,000 Puerto Ricans living in Florida, second only to the Cuban population, estimated at 846,000. More than half a million Puerto Ricans live in central Florida (Osceola, Orange and Hillsboro and Polk counties).

PRFAA'S campaign has registered hundreds of thousands of Hispanic Americans in other battleground states. "Our goal was not just to just register numbers, but to engage people ... to really get them to understand how to connect the dots and participate," said Celeste Diaz Ferraro, a spokeswoman for PRFAA.

This year's presidential election is extremely close. Like 2000, it may come down to a handful of votes in Florida. If people like Zulma Velez can properly cast their vote -- and not get harassed or intimidated -- Puerto Ricans may well help decide who wins this very close presidential election.