Somewhere in the Lost and Found

thetart:

A New Way to Measure the Burgeoning Power of the Immigrant Vote

Most immigrants are naturalized citizens or legally residing noncitizens.  However, if we want to know overall voter registration, we would include all immigrants in the base, including the undocumented, when calculating registration. The result would tell us more realistically how many immigrants have the potential someday to vote and, importantly, would tell us if the percent is rising or falling. Using this calculation, we see a clear increase in immigrant registration over the past few election cycles, from 24 percent in 1996 to 27 percent in 2008.  In other words, a larger and growing percentage of the entire immigrant population is registered to vote. Eight states have large or rapidly growing immigrant populations and will host a Republican caucus or primary between now and Super Tuesday, March 6.  Using a more inclusive estimate of voter registration that compares immigrant registration in the last Presidential election to the average over the previous three elections, we see an upward trend.  In every state but Ohio, a larger percentage of the entire immigrant population is registered to vote and the trend is on the upswing. These trends are remarkable because they are taking place in an era of immigrant bashing, in which political candidates routinely degrade the contributions of immigrants.  One could expect immigrants in such a climate to refrain from civic participation in a system that says they are not wanted. Yet in spite of a hostile reception, immigrants are choosing to become more, not less, engaged in American society.