LYNN — The number of Latino residents in the city nearly doubled to 29,000 over the last decade, but that increased presence in the community isn’t reflected in the number of Latino candidates running for office.
Of the 32 candidates running for mayor, council and school committee, just three identity themselves as Latino.
The U.S. Census data says Lynn’s Latino population swelled to 32 percent in 2010, up from 18 percent in 2000. Population experts insist the actual number of Latino residents is closer to 40,000. That gives the Latino community the potential to wield its political clout in this city of 90,329.
Hugo Carvajal, a Colombian native who works as a school administrator, said the Latino community is underrepresented.
“There are more Latinos running this time around, but we are still not where we need to be,” he said. “Voter engagement remains slow for Latinos and community organizers say voter registration is very low.”
He said many Latinos say they are disenfranchised, they feel like they don’t belong, and voting is a waste of time. Many Latino residents hold green cards and are ineligible to vote. Some are immigrants living in the country without legal permission and cannot vote.
While the city’s schools have a majority population of students of color, he said, there’s not much representation of Latinos on the school staffs.
“Ninety-two percent of all the staff in the public schools are white,” he said. “It’s important for kids to see someone who looks like them in front of the classroom and it’s the same for adults to see people like them in office.”
When Maria Carrasco ends her term on School Committee later this year, that could leave the city without an elected Latino leader.
Carrasco said rounding up the Latino vote is a challenge. If you want to vote for the Italian in the race, it’s easy, she said, because they come from one country.
But Latinos come from a number of different nations such as Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, México, Colombia, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.
“We speak the same language, but our culture and our needs are very different,” she said. “Each group has different priorities and that makes getting the so-called Latino vote very hard.”
Jaime Figueroa is seeking a Councilor-at-Large seat, Brian Castellanos and Elizabeth Gervacio are running for school committee.
While the city’s Election Office and the Massachusetts Secretary of State said they do not track voters by nationality, election experts suggest the number of registered Latino voters could be as high as half of the population, or about 14,500.
That’s a huge number considering Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy received 9,258 votes in the last mayoral race in 2013.
“All the candidates are working really hard to identify these voters because they understand the importance of the Latino vote,” said Frances Martinez, president and CEO of the North Shore Latino Business Association.
Castellanos, who hails from Venezuela and immigrated to Lynn when he was three, said he and his team have a goal of visiting 40 homes a day to reach voters.
“I’m not just knocking on the doors of Latinos,” he said. “That said, I have been trying to reach out to Latino families and get them registered to vote.”
Gervacio, whose family is from the Dominican Republic, said she is reaching out to the Latino community in barber shops, salons, restaurants, and many of the retailers along Union Street.
“My goal is to visit places where Latinos frequent and start a conversation,” she said. “My family has been here since the 1980s and I’m using those contacts to get my name out there to reach more voters.”
Figueroa said he has been making connections with grassroots organizations including the Highlands Coalition, Neighbor to Neighbor and Lynn United for Change to meet voters.
“I am emphasizing to Latinos the need to vote and the impact it has on all of us,” he said. “They vote in the presidential race but I am trying to convince them that local elections have a much more significant impact on their lives.”
