Latino Politics

The discussion on race and politics has been predominately about Caucasians and African Americans, however the increasing number of the Latino population in the United States leads political scientists to question how Latinos behave politically. Latinos do not behave in a political block. The assumption that Latinos behave this way is based on the studies of black politics. Studies show that African Americans tend to vote in a cohort leaning mostly democratic; based on these findings some political scientists believe “race (has) predictive powers”. Compared to the term African Americans, the term Latinos encompasses a wide range of origins accounting for different political interests and concerns.

There is not a Latino Identity -to –Politics

Link:
In Taeku Lees article, Race, Immigration, and the Identity to Politics Link, he argues that researchers allocation of “a population defined by shared racial and ethnic labels to a collective group politics based on those definitions” can be problematic. He mentions five processes that are usually linked together and could be perceived as linear; however they are problematic if not taken apart separately. Within those five processes are definition, identification, consciousness, venue selection, and choice.
Individuals who are identified as Latino do not necessarily identify with the term, which is meant to encompass individuals of Spanish-speaking origins. However, individuals who are identified as Latino do not have universal definitions of what the term Latino means to them. Even if an individual agrees with the definition of the term and find identification within the term; their consciousness may stray from those of the term (in this case Latino) they identify with. The avenue in which individuals choose to pursue their political interest may be different although they have similar views on issues. For example, some individuals may believe the way to pursue their interest is through voting and others may believe the way to pursue their interest is through protesting.
Conditions under which an Identity- to – Politics link may exist:
When controlling for certain factors, a Latino identity to Politics link may exist. For instance, Latinos that live in the same neighborhood may have similar political interest because people who live in the same area usually have similar social economic status therefore have similar concerns. Studies have shown that higher educated individuals with higher paying occupations tend to lean Republican. A link may exist when focusing on specific issues such as abortion because most Latinos are Catholic and abortions are against the Catholic religion. Another example, would be when it comes to social welfare Latinos tend to be more liberal.

Effect on Latino Political representations and incorporations:
How institutions affect Latino Politics:
Throughout history institutions have not always been inclusive in who they choose to protect, cater to, or provide rights for.

The biggest example would be the United State government’s history of implementing laws to exclude as well as hinder minorities’ participation in politics. For instance, the United States used the constitution against those who were suppose to be considered “citizens” under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Treaty obligated the United States to allow Mexicans living in the sequestered land to be American citizens. However, under the constitution to be considered a citizen you had to be “white” because of this Mexicans were to be classified as white. Although Mexicans were classified as white, therefore citizens, they were not given full citizen rights because “Congress gave states the right to determine the Mexicans’ citizenship status” (Bedolla,2014,p.50) A recent issue that has been in the news is the state of Texas denying children born to unauthorized immigrants birth certificates. Texas actions are a direct violation of the 14th amendment to the U.S constitution but there is stipulation on whether Texas is allowed to do this because Texas is denying birth certificates on the grounds of only accepting certain forms of identification. Most of the forms of identification accepted are not obtainable by unauthorized

immigrants.
Electoral rules
Electoral rules are crucial to an individual’s ability to participate and be represented in their government. The most important issue Latinos face is the citizenship requirement to vote. Latinos who do not have citizenship status cannot participate in this step in the political process. Since they cannot vote, their interest and concerns are not heard or represented in the government. Latinos without citizenship status have to use other forms of participation such as protesting, signing petitions, organizing with groups seeking to influence the political process.
The majority rule which states that in order for a candidate to win an election they must obtain more than 50 percent of the vote.

As a result, of a large portion of Latinos being “non-citizens population, large under-18 population, and low registration and voting rates”; Latinos are unable to express their interests through voting. (Bedolla,2014,p.26) This also hinders Latinos ability to elect someone into office without building a coalition with another minority group. Latinos have a better chance of electing someone to office at the local level in areas where they make a majority of population and/ or are a majority of the

voters.
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was enacted to prohibit racial discrimination in voting. It banned voting restrictions put in place to hinder an individual’s ability to vote, such as poll taxes and literacy test. The VRA also included preclearance which called for those counties with histories of excluding minorities to have federal electoral supervision over districting rules and electoral logistics. Although the VRA was intended to protect African American voting rights; it had positive effects on the Latino community when the VRA was renewed in 1970 that included Latinos under its provision. However, the recent case Shelby County v. Holder in the US Supreme Court ruled that the formula in section 4 laying out the formula for which jurisdictions would be covered under the preclearance requirements was unconstitutional. It was deemed unconstitutional because “it was based on 1972 electoral information (and) was too old and therefore not reflective of current practice.” Since it has been deemed unconstitutional there is no formula to reflect the current practices for instance the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott put his voter identification law into act immediately following the ruling. The law will affect thousands of Latinos across Texas who either do not have or cannot obtain the proper ID therefore effectively hindering a large portion of the Latino population from voting and electing their candidates into office.
Legislative rules
Committees play a crucial role in policy making. Each committee is responsible for a specific area of policymaking. In order to get a bill passed it must first be agreed upon by the committee members of concern to send it to the floor for a vote. Even if Latinos were to elect their candidate into office, whether they influence policy that their constituents were concerned about would depend on which committee their candidate was assigned. Committee assignment is determined by party leadership which can be incentivized through party loyalty. When a member of congresses bill makes it to the floor, they still have to obtain a majority of the votes in the house and the senate before it can be passed. In order for Latinos to get a majority of the vote they have to form coalitions within Congress, especially other members of their political party to pass policy.
Who represents a community is dependent upon if it has at-large or single-member districts. At-large representatives are supposed to represent large districts makes it hard to both run and win the election. Running in an at large election can be hard without personal wealth or party support. Since they represent a large district they can’t make their votes in the legislator reflective of each or even most of their constituents. At large districts can impede Latinos ability to elect candidates of their choosing into office through gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the manipulation of the boundaries of districts to favor one party or class. Under single-member districts counties are split into smaller districts where elected officials only represent individuals within their district. Single- member districts are more favorable to the Latino community especially in districts where Latinos make up a large portion of the population. “Studies have shown that cities with single-member districts are much more likely to elect minority representatives.” (Bedolla,2014,p.42) The VRA orders cities to adopt single-member districts to stop minorities from losing elections in areas where they a relative portion of the community.