January 6, 2009
- Pasco, Washington
Spanish Radio Rocks the Vote
By Rudabeh Shahbazi
PASCO-- The higher the Hispanic population, the lower the voter turnout, according to statistics from the Washington Secretary of State's office.
Franklin County typically has the lowest voter turnout in the Washington. So far, less than a third of the population has registered to vote. More than half of the people who live here are native Spanish speakers. Now local Spanish radio personalities hope to fill the void. "The problem with a lot of Hispanic people, they're not very familiar with the people who are running for Congress or the government," said J.C. Tejeda, the Spanish program director at KCHR. "So it's our job to educate them and just give them the info and the 411 of every candidate, and they decide who to vote for." Spanish radio rallies whoever is listening, in the car, at work or at home. "We feel really good," said KCHR Station Manager Gonzalo Cortez. "We feel important because we are the source of information for most of the Hispanics here in the area." Even if many Spanish speakers in Franklin County are not citizens, radio managers say it is important to spread the word about candidates and issues so listeners can help influence their friends and family members who can vote. Politicians have caught on, too. "Honestly, we have a lot of candidates advertising at our station, trying to reach our listeners, but we just talk about the election, we just talk about the candidates and we say we're just giving you the details of each candidate," said Tejeda. "You make the final choice." |
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