CHARLOTTE — Leaders of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said Tuesday they expect a big bump in Latino turnout in 2012 versus 2008.
Arturo Vargas, NALEO executive director, told a group gathered here he expects 12.2 million Latino voters will cast ballots in November, a 26 percent jump from 2008. Latino adovcates and political observers have said the Latino vote will be one of the keys to victory in the presidential race, and current polling shows President Obama with a huge lead among Latinos.
Despite the projected jump in turnout, Vargas said many eligible Latino voters will stay home. He projected 23 million Latinos will be eligible to vote in November though just about half of them will.
