When 20-year Phoenix resident and businesswoman Maria Maqueada turned in her emergency ballot today at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, thanks to the assertive efforts of Citizens for a Better Arizona, one more vote was cast in what observers are already calling a record Latino vote in Arizona.<\/p>\n
Whether such a grassroots surge in the Latino vote will be able to overcome out-of-state contributions and Republican hijinks, including the latest report today on misleading robocalls to Arizona Democrats on polling stations by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Flake, a determined network of Latino and community groups galvanized by citizens fed up with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s notorious reign and the state’s SB 1070 “papers, please” immigration policy has already shifted the political landscape in tomorrow’s election — and beyond.<\/p>\n
The reversal of the Arizonification of America is in full force.<\/p>\n
In a statement released today by Promise Arizona in Action, a community group dedicated to greater civic involvement, more than “111,975 Latinos in AZ have already voted early,” marking an extraordinary 28 percent increase in early voting among Latinos in 2008. <\/p>\n