Marching Without A Vote

The nationwide pro-illegal immigration rallies that threatened lawmakers with the infamous “today we march, tomorrow we vote” chant has failed to materialize with no record of a historic new voter boom that could sway any election.

A major news organization’s review of voter registration figures from major cities that hosted large immigration marches, reveals that not many new voters, Hispanic or otherwise, have even been registered.

From Chicago to Denver, Houston and Atlanta as well as other major urban areas with large rallies, the new voter registration numbers are extremely low. Even in Los Angeles, host of the country’s largest demonstration – half a million people waving Mexican flags and demanding legal rights – the study called the increase in new registrations “more trickle than torrent.”

Keep in mind that that Los Angeles County has nearly 4 million voters and during the massive rallies, protest organizers promised to register 1 million new voters nationally by 2008. At this rate, that seems unlikely, although Hispanic advocacy groups vow to meet the goal.

The metropolitan areas that most threatened to send politicians a strong message with their new pro-illegal immigration voters have had dismal registration efforts so far. Besides Los Angeles, they include; San Francisco and San Jose in California, Phoenix and Tucson in Arizona, Dallas and Houston in Texas, Denver Colorado, Atlanta Georgia and St. Petersburg Florida.

Captain’s Quarters offers a logical explanation for the discrepancy in the numbers. The rallies inspired hundreds of thousands to take to the streets, but a good percentage of the protesters have no legal right to be in the country. Thus, they cannot vote. The rest are experienced political activists who registered to vote long ago.

So, while the first part of the infamous “today we march, tomorrow we vote” chant has come to fruition, it is unlikely that the second part will ever be.