The Southwest Voter Registration Education Project kicked off its 2024 Get Out to Vote (GOTV) Campaign to strengthen America’s democracy at its 50th Anniversary Dinner, downtown San Antonio, on July 12, 2024.
SVREP paid tribute to its 50 years of empowering the Latino community through posthumously honoring its founder and president, William C. Velásquez and former president Andrew Hernandez with the SVREP 50th Anniversary – Champion of Democracy Award. Antonio González will be posthumously honored at the Los Angeles 50th Anniversary Dinner on August 29th with the same award. Former national president of LULAC Domingo Garcia and Texas State Senator José Menéndez were bestowed with the SVREP Lifetime Achievement Award at the dinner.
A tribute video that spans through SVREP 50th years highlights the last 50 years SVREP has worked to empower the Latino community, reflects on why SVREP was founded and notes it’s time to move to the next fifty years. The seven-minute video was produced by Viva Politics
Domingo Garcia became one of Texas’ most visible newsmakers, as the youngest mayor Pro Tem of Dallas. He was the first legislator in the nation to protect immigrant students by authoring in-state tuition legislation in Texas. Garcia was also instrumental in passing the Texas 10% rule”. Senator José Menéndez is Chair of the Texas Hispanic Senate Caucus, during his term in office, over 200 bills have passed that benefit children, seniors, veterans, and San Antonian families.
“With one of the most consequential elections of our times, SVREP is set to mobilize 2 million Latino Voters for the general presidential election in competitive electoral vote states, US Senate states, and congressional districts” declared Lydia Camarillo, SVREP president, before a full house of San Antonio’s Latino leadership, elected officials, and community leaders.
“SVREP will mobilize the Latino vote with grassroots strategies, repetitive live contact, and digital strategies. Moreover, SVREP will continue to challenge voter suppression laws to ensure Latinos can vote,” stated Patricia Gonzales, SVREP Director of Operations
The SVREP 50th Anniversary dinner introduced the SVREP 2024 Get Out to Vote (GOTV) Campaign for the presidential general elections. SVREP will be mobilizing Latinos in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Target states for the US Senate include Arizona, Nevada, Montana, and Ohio. SVREP will continue to organize and mobilize the Latino vote in California and Texas.
Texas will see a dramatic increase in voter registration from 2016 to the November 2024 elections, from 2.6 million to 3.9 million. This is a profound 1.3 million Latino voter registration increase that will change the political landscape in Texas. The increase in registration numbers is attributed to several reasons including the efforts organized by SVREP over the last 50 years and attacks on Latinos.
With SVREP’s efforts and support from others, 75% to 84% of registered Latino voters in Texas and the targeted states are expected to turn out by November 5, 2024.
“SVREP is organizing voter registration drives in Bexar, Dallas, El Paso, Harris, Tarrant, and Travis counties, as well as the Rio Grande Valley. Our goal is to increase voter registration from 3.7 million to 3.9 million by the 2024 elections. With a well-funded effort, SVREP will ensure that Latinos help shape the elections in 2024,” concluded Camarillo, SVREP President.
Donate a tax-deductible gift to SVREP at https://www.svrep.org/donate to support nonpartisan Latino vote mobilization efforts. Dinner proceeds will be used to support voter registration and Get-Out-The-Vote nonpartisan campaigns for the November 5, 2024 elections.
SVREP is the largest and oldest non-partisan Latino voter participation organization in the United States, founded by William C. Velásquez in 1974, and other Mexican American activists to ensure the voting rights of Mexican Americans in the southwest. Its mission is to empower Latinos and other minorities by increasing their participation in the American democratic process. Since it opened its doors, SVREP has registered over 3.4 million Latino voters, trained 150,000 Latino leaders, and has won 210 voting rights lawsuits.
