In the past month, two good friends of mine have become U.S. citizens. One of them waited almost 25 years to take that important step, so it’s understandable that the first thing he did after his swearing-in ceremony was register to vote and apply for his passport. Really, all of that on the same day.
Both of my friends will be voting for the first time on Nov. 4, although they will cancel out each other’s vote since they support different candidates. Nevertheless, they are very conscious of the fact that for the first time since they have been living in the U.S., they will have a say in who handles the destiny of their new adopted country. And they are taking that responsibility very seriously.
Like them, hundreds of thousand of naturalized citizens and other first-time voters are energized and motivated with this year’s presidential election. And, there are literally hundreds of organizations around the country trying to get people who have not yet registered to vote to do so, and soon. Even though the election is more than a month away, the deadline to register to vote is creeping up around the corner. If voters don’t figure that out soon, they might be left out of the loop.
 The first five states to close voter registration on Oct. 4 are Alaska, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Washington. Oct. 6 is the deadline to register in 18 states, including some important battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. For New York it’s Oct. 10, and California Oct. 20. There are only six states in the country where voters can register all the way up to Election Day.
Besides the voter registration deadlines, voters need to be aware of some of the obstacles they might run into in the process of exercising their right to vote, especially because rules vary from state to state. If they have moved or changed their name, they could have to re-register with updated information. College students who go to school out of their home state need to find out if they can vote by mail or if they have to register at their college address. There are rumors that plans are under way in some states to use lists of foreclosed homes to prevent people at those addresses from registering. If confirmed, somebody has got to put a stop to it.
Among Latinos, there are stepped-up efforts to register new voters. As of now there are 10 million Latinos registered to vote. The goal is to increase the Hispanic voter registration rosters by at least 2 million, and the potential is certainly there. There are 17 million Latinos eligible to vote in the U.S.
For more than a year, there has been a comprehensive Latino voter project under way that has thus far proven to be very successful. The united efforts of national Latino civil-rights organizations and Spanish-language media were able to mobilize 1.2 million legal residents who applied for citizenship. In its new phase, the campaign is not just motivating eligible Hispanics to register but actually guiding them through the process and distributing nearly 1 million voter registration cards in communities around the country, with detailed instructions on how to fill them out and where to send them.  
If the primary season is a sign of what to expect, we could be looking at a historic turnout. Latino voter turnout in the Democratic primaries broke records in several states. For instance, in Arizona there was a 105 percent increase from 2004, in California the increase was 182 percent, in Florida 227 percent, and in Texas the voter turnout in the Democratic primary went from 184,990 in 2004 to 954,492 — that’s a 416 percent increase.
This election is turning out to be one of the most important in modern history. With so much at stake, the eyes of the world are upon us. Every person who is qualified to vote should do so, and people certainly should not let apathy or lack of information keep them from complying with their civic duty. 

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www.mariaesalinas.com)
© 2008 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate