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Latinos May Determine Next US Presidential Election Outcome

Steve Herman

   Henry Hernandez contributed to this report.

   READING, PENNSYLVANIA -- Café owner Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz, the only
   Latino on the six-member city council in Reading, Pennsylvania, says it
   has been a struggle to educate her community about its bulked-up voting
   muscle.

   "People feel disenfranchised. And they always feel like their vote does
   not count and their vote does not matter," she said.

   More than a half century ago, a group of Puerto Ricans moved to Reading
   to work the nearby mushroom fields. Since then, the Latino population
   of the city itself has mushroomed to 65%, supplanting the traditional
   base of conservative Protestant whites of German ancestry.

   Although she is a city official, Cepeda-Freytiz, born in New York City
   of parents from the Dominican Republic, recounts how some non-Latino
   constituents suspect she is not a citizen, accusing her of "buying her
   papers."

   'Latino community is going to make a difference'

   That and the underrepresentation at the polls among the Latino
   community may explain why Reading has never had a Hispanic mayor. Eddie
   Moran, vice president of the Reading school board, is seeking to become
   the first one in this year's city election. He also is keeping an eye
   on next year's presidential contest.

   "I think next year is going to be huge, where the Latino community is
   going to make a difference in this electoral campaign," he said.

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