A history of weak Latino voting turnout has some Hub City citizens worried. Eliseo Solis, of Lubbock, voiced some of his concerns.
"We have a very real, seriously low voter turnout here in Lubbock. I understand that exists throughout Texas," Solis said.
In fact that's a national concern for the Latino population.
"If we don't stand up and do some voting, we're going to be ignored and become invisible. I feel that's how we are right now because we don't vote properly," Solis said.
"They don't help elect the people that make the policy decision that impact their lives," said Sam Guzman, Vice President of the Mexican-American School Board Association.
Lubbock Latinos made a stride to enhance voter turnout by holding a voter education seminar on Saturday.
"The Latino population is growing by leaps and bounds yet they don't have the power commensurate to the amount of growth," Guzman said.
The meeting held at Joseph's Catholic Church in North Lubbock offered Latinos information on issues like citizenship, immigration policy, and the importance of voting.
"This is part of the process of trying to generate the number of people who register to vote," Guzman said.
Hispanic leaders that spoke at the seminar encouraged those in attendance to participate at the polls.
"If each one of these people can commit to carry out their task of registering those people and turning them out to vote," Guzman said.
Outreach leaders said the seminar is part of an ongoing grassroots effort.
"We have a little bit of difficulty getting people out to vote. That's what we're trying to do, get our community out to vote here in Lubbock," Solis said.
House meetings are also being initiated in Lubbock to educate Latino voters.
