Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Voting participation among the Hispanic and Latino community in Washington State reached an all-
time high in 2016. While many obstacles exist that prohibit equitable voting participation, especially in
Latino communities, 2016 marked a record high in voter registration and vote share for the Latino
community in Washington. These trends are very encouraging and shows signs that the voter
participation gap in the Latino community is decreasing.
The four major data points we rely on to track disparities in Latino political participation include: Citizen
Voting Age Population (CVAP), voter registration percentage, voter turnout, and vote share.
Citizen Voting Age Population: CVAP is data that is collected by the American Community Survey and
gives the best estimates of the number of eligible Latino voters. Currently, Latinos make up 6.6% of all
eligible voters in Washington1.
Voter Registration Percentage: Voter registration percentage is the percentage of Latino voters among
all registered voters for any given year. In 2016, Latinos made up 4.7% of all registered voters in
Washington.
Voter Turnout: The percentage of registered voters that voted in a particular election. In 2016, 63% of all
registered Latinos voted in the general election.
Vote share: Different from voter turnout, vote share refers to the percentage of ballots cast for any
given election. In 2016, Latinos made up 3.7% of all ballots cast in the general election.
Looking at these four interrelated data points over time can help us better understand how the Latino
community is participating in the political process and help identify key trends. Latinos account for 6.6%
of the eligible voter population in Washington State, a rate that steadily increases by approximately .2%
every year. In theory, if no disparities exist, CVAP, voter registration and vote share would all be the
same number. Since Latinos account for 6.6% of all eligible voters, they should also account for 6.6% of
all registered voters and 6.6% of all ballots cast in every election. Unfortunately, barriers around
language and how to cast a ballot do exist and Latinos only account for 4.7% of all registered voters and
3.7% of ballots cast in the 2016 general election.
1
The most recent CVAP data available is for 2015. The 2016 was estimated based on previous trends.
0%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Voter Registration
2016 marked an all-time high for Latino voter registration. Hispanic and Latinos now account for 4.7%
of all registered voters in Washington, the highest rate it has ever been. In addition, Latinos accounted
for 9.7% of all new voter registrations in 2016, another record high. Even though these rates are very
encouraging and provide testimony to the importance of voter registration efforts, there are still
approximately 100,000 eligible Latino voters that are not registered to vote.
The chart below shows how the overall voter registration rate compares to that of new voter
registrations for each given year. The rate in which new Latino voters are registering to vote has steadily
increased over the past seven years. This rate has spiked in both 2015 and 2016, reaching 8.8% of new
registrations in 2015, and 9.7% in 2016. Considering that Latinos account for 6.6% of all eligible voters,
2
Reliable voter data is not available prior to 2010.
10% 9.7%
8.8%
7.7% 7.7%
8% 7.5%
7.0%
6.1%
6%
4%
2%
0%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
30%
31% 29%
20%
22%
18%
10%
0%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Statewide Latino
Election Results:
Without exit polls available in Washington State, we look to other interesting data points and precinct-
level trends to extrapolate relevant election information. By looking at precinct-level data, we can
isolate those that have large percentages of Latino voters and see how these precincts vote and/or roll
off (i.e. dont vote the full ballot) on any given race. Though we wont be able to attribute these trends
The results below show interesting trends regarding Latino voting behavior. Precincts with at least 50%
Latino voters tend to be Democratic and support progressive initiatives. The higher the Latino
percentage, the larger the precincts supported these Democratic candidates. There are also interesting
trends relating to roll off - which refers to the percentage of people who cast a ballot in the election, but
failed to vote on a particular race. With exception to the Presidential race, precincts with larger number
of Latino voters tend to have a higher rate of roll off, suggesting that Latino voters are more prone to fill
out a partial ballot.