Immigration blitz ahead of elections

RAW STORY
Published: Monday October 30, 2006

With midterm elections just one week away, two non-profit organizations are conducting large-scale campaigns to bring voters to the polls by drawing attention to what they perceive to be the negative effects of immigration, RAW STORY has learned.

One group, called U.S. English, bills itself as "the nation's oldest, largest citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States" and is seeking voter turnout in Delaware in support of legislators who want to make English the official language of the state. This year, the Delaware house passed legislation that would make English the official language of the state, but the bill was not taken up by the state senate in time for recess.

"According to the U.S. Census, nearly one in 15 new mothers in Delaware between 2000 and 2003 were limited English proficient," said Mauro Mujica, the group's founder. A press release, issued today, notes that "77 percent of likely voters in Delaware want English to be made the official language of the state."

Another group, called grassfire.org — whose purpose, according to its website, is to "utilize the Internet to expand the impact of conservative and pro-family citizens" — has reportedly released a study of congressional votes on immigration and found that Republicans have a higher "border security score" than Democrats. "Grassfire.org's '2006 Congressional Immigration Scorecard'...charted more than 5,800 votes in the House and Senate and gave Republicans an overall border security score of 78 percent as compared to a 23 percent rating for Democrats," reads a press release issued today.

"Grassfire expects to distribute at least 100,000 printed copies of the Immigration scorecard nationwide and reach 1 million more through online distribution that begins this week."

In recent years, Republicans have relied heavily on focus issues to mobilize their base to come to the polls. If they are brought out to vote for a particular issue, analysts say, they will also likely vote for important candidates and pieces of legislation. That strategy worked in 2004 when ballot measures to ban gay marriage drew conservative voters to the polls in swing states across the country.