The election process;
Candidate profile;
Issues on the ballot;
Smart voting habits.

In other words, “An educated voter casts a powerful ballot.” You don’t want to vote as a Democrat, or a Republican, simply because of tradition or pressure from family, friends, the media, or politicians. You want to vote because you know what the issues are, how political candidates feel about the issues, and most importantly, how they will affect you. Remember, when voting, lead yourself, don’t be a follower!

Voter education and preparation can be done many different ways, however, the best way is to first organize a planning meeting, and then follow-up with a candidate’s Town Hall Meeting.

Organize a planning meeting;
Create a candidate’s Town Hall Meeting.

The planning meeting is crucial because this is where you invite the new recruits from Part 1: Voter Registration, and Part 2: Infrastructure Creation (See Jan. 5 and Jan. 12, 2007 issues of La Prensa). The planning meeting will help guide you through developing a good candidate and Town Hall Meeting Checklist.

In the planning meeting the group will do the following tasks: Develop a checklist of items needed to include and organize in order to have a productive Town Hall Meeting.
Create, Review, and Finalize the top five Latino issues and concerns from your target community [This was done at a recent statewide forum in Lorain coordinated by Rubén Castilla Herrera. See the Dec. 20, 2006 issue of La Prensa, or view on line at: https://laprensatoledo.com/Stories/2006/December20,2006/2008Politics.htm ].

The following are some important items to cover during your planning meeting in order to organize and present an effective Town Hall Meeting (Your planning committee is encouraged to add to the checklist):

Select a date well in advance for your Town Hall Meeting. Stick to this date. 
Who needs to be invited, this includes: Appropriate candidates, Target audience, and the Media—to include television, newspapers, radio.

Select a meeting moderator: Develop your questions for candidates as “yes or no” responses. Make sure your questions result in getting commitments to the issues relevant to your community. For example, “will you support increasing/funding…?”

Gracias. As always, please feel free to contact if you would like more individualized assistance at [email protected]

2008 Latino Voter Turnout Plan: Part I of V
2008 Latino Voter Turnout Plan: Part II of V

2008 Latino Voter Turnout Plan: Part III of V
2008 Latino Voter Turnout Plan: Part IV of V

2008 Latino Voter Turnout Plan: Part V of V