La Voz de Seguin June, 2011 internet.pmd - La Voz Newspapers

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Page # 12La Voz de Guadalupe County - June, 2011Reflections on theSchool Bond Election in Seguin, Texasby Alfredo Rodriguez Santos c/sHere in the United States ofAmerica we like to celebrate ourholidays. A quick look at the calendarwill show that there areover 10 holidays when peopletake off from work and dependingon which state you live in,there are some other days whenyou don’t have to go to work.Memorial Day, the 4th of Julyand Veteran’s Day are three specialdays because they are relatedto freedom, democracy andsoldiers who have gone to warand may not have come back. Asa country we pride ourselves asthe leader of the free world.We like to think that our way oflife is worth defending and evenexporting to other nations. Thisis part of the reason why we areinvolved in two wars at the currentmoment. One is in Iraq andthe other in Afghanistan. We tellourselves that we are over thereso that “those” people can somedayenjoy the same benefits wehave here in the United States.But here is the irony, in theUnited States of America, whenit comes time to vote and let one’svoice be heard, our turnout recordis dismal. All around the country,people have been losing interestin the very act that we tell othersthat we cherish and are willing todie for in far away lands.¿Qué pasó?On Novmeber 2, 2010, therewere 18,789,238 people in Texaswho were 18 years of age or over.According to the Texas Secretaryof State, Hope Andrade,13,269,233 people were registeredto vote. After the pollsclosed and the votes werecounted, it was revealed that atotal of 4,979,870 people hadcast ballots. Rick Perry received2,737,481 votes. His challenger,Bill White, the Democrat, received2,106,395 votes.Governor Perry won re- electionwith a margin of 631,086votes. Stated differently,8,289,363 registered voters didnot cast a ballot in the November2, 2010 general election inTexas. In Guadalupe County onthis same date, there were74,783 registered voters on therolls, yet only 30,386 or 40.63%bothered to cast a ballot.¿Qué pasó?On May 14th, 2011, the SeguinIndependent School Districtheld an election on a 97.5 millionbond to build and renovate facilitiesat the high school. Some2,864 turned out to vote early. Altogether,out of 22,944 registeredvoters who could have voted inthis election, only 4,036 botheredto turn out.¿Qué pasó?So here is the first question, ifpeople believe in education, andmost people do, why was theturnout so low in the May 14thelection? There are three waysto vote now-a-days: Absentee,Early and in Person. Voting iseasy yet some people couldn’tfind it in them to cast a ballot.With all these options, only 4,036people bothered to cast a ballot.¿Qué pasó?Second question, if you believeyou are a good American, if youbelieve in celebrating MemorialDay, the 4th of July and orVeteran’s Day, how could one“forget” to go and vote?I”ll tell you the answer, and actuallythere are a couple of answers.First, for some people“not voting” is not a matter offogetting, it is a matter of “notcaring.” It is very similar to thosepeople who throw trash out theircar window. The plain truth isthat there are people who justdon’t care about the communitythey live in and not voting is justthe most glaring manifestation ofthat “not caring.”The second reason that somepeople don’t go out and vote isbecause they believe their votedoesn’t count. Where they gotthis idea I do not know. There areso many examples of electionsthat were won by just one vote.One thing people inpolitics know is that everyvote important andevery vote counts.When we examinevoter turnout for theMay 14th Seguinschool bond election, itis clear that a lot ofpeople did not bother toturnout and vote. This istrue of Anglo and MexicanAmerican voters.Because this newspaperhas a stated focuson the Hispanic community,our voter analysishas tried to “godeep” in understandingthe lack of participationof the Hispanic com-munity in this past school boardelection especially in light of thefact that 62% of students enrolledin the district are Hispanic. (SeeTable # 1)Table 1Ethnic/Racial Break Downof Student Enrollement inthe Seguin ISDAfrican American 521 6.9%Hispanic 4,671 62.0%White 2,275 30.2%Native American 18 0.2%Asian/Pacific Islander 44 0.6%SOURCE: Texas Education Agency, AcademicExcellence Indicator System District - 2009-10 DistrictProfileThe Seguin IndependentSchool District is conducting asurvey to try and find out whatpeople’s sentiments are about theschool bond election. We lookTable 2Voter Turnout by Districts in SISDby Spanish Surname and GenderRegisterd Total Spanish Male FemaleVoters Voters Surname1 2,831 349 104 43 642 2,608 342 91 36 543 3,514 516 25 10 154 3,864 943 78 34 445 4,028 1,023 94 40 536 1,884 115 60 26 347 4,215 748 46 19 2622,944 4,036 498 208 290SOURCE: Guadalupe County Elections Office, Seguin, Texasforward to seeing those resutls.In the mean time, using datafrom the Guadalupe CountyElections Office, we were ableto find out howmany Hispanicsvoted. That datais presented inTable # 2 and onthe facing page inthe way of a surnamecount.The first columncontains thesurname followedby a number.This is thenumber of peoplewith that surnamewho are registeredto vote. thesecond number tells how manypeople with that surname actuallyturned out to vote.¿Qué pasó?
La Voz de Guadalupe County - June, 2011Page # 13¿Cuántos votaron el 14 de mayo?First number is registered voters with this Spanish sur nameSecond number is how many turned out to voteACEVEDO 16 0ACUNA 13 2ADAME 16 0AGUILAR 28 4AGUIRRE 24 1ALEMAN 7 0ALMAGUER 8 0ALONZO 5 0AMESCUA 4 2ALVARADO 23 0ALVAREZ 20 0ANDRADE 18 1ARAMBULA 5 0ARCE 27 0ARCOS 5 0ARELLANO 4 0ARIAS 12 0ARISPE 11 1ARRIAGA 18 0ARRIOLA 4 1AVALOS 43 8AVILA 15 0AVILES 17 0AYALA 8 0BAEZ 7 2BALDERAS 13 4BARRERA 6 0BARRIENTEZ 10 1BARRIENTOS 16 0BARRON 10 2BELMAREZ 18 2BELTRAN 5 0BENAVIDES 11 2BENCOMO 10 0BENJUMEA 5 2BORREGO 3 0BETANCOURT 4 2BORREGO 3 0BRISENO 8 2BUENO 3 2BUSTAMENTE 4 0CABALLERO 6 0CALDERON 4 0CAMACHO 6 1CAMARILLO 8 2CAMPOS 35 5CANALES 7 0CANTU 20 0CARDENAS 44 5CARMONA 5 2CARRANZA 5 0CARRILLO 51 11CARVAJAL 18 0CASAREZ 31 0CASAS 19 3CASTANON 13 4CASTELLANOS 9 1CASTELLON 6 3CASTILLEJA 10 0CASTILLO 93 12CASTRO 19 0CAVAZOS 5 2CELAYA 4 0CENISEROS 5 2CENTENO 2 0CEPEDA 4 0CERDA 4 0CERNA 4 0CERVANTES 13 2CEVALLOS 16 0CHAPA 12 2CHAVEZ 20 1CIMENTAL 3 2CISNEROS 14 1CONTRERAS 20 0CORDOVA 2 2CORONA 4 0CORONADO 3 0CORRALES 3 0CORREA 3 0CORTEZ 20 0CORTINA 11 0CRUZ 17 3CUELLAR 5 2DAVILA 38 2DELACRUZ 35 1DELAGARZA 43 4DELAROSA 5 3DELEON 46 3DELGADO 7 0DIAZ 21 0DOMINGUEZ 9 0ENRIQUEZ 8 0ESCAMILLA 6 0ESCOBEDO 5 0ESPARZA 9 0ESPINOSA 7 0ESPINOZA 23 0ESQUIVEL 6 0ESTRADA 13 1FERNANDEZ 7 2FLORES 144 14FONSECA 14 0GAITAN 21 0GALAVIZ 8 1GALLARDO 11 0GALLEGOS 15 0GALVAN 30 0GARCIA 250 14GARZA 71 5GAYTAN 7 0GIL 9 1GOMEZ 83 11GONZALES 208 15GONZALEZ 52 1GUADARRAMA 7 2GUAJARDO 6 2GUERRA 40 6GUERRERO 69 6GUEVARA 11 1GUTIERREZ 71 2GUZMAN 9 0HERNANDEZ 196 23HERRERA 126 17HINOJOSA 7 0IBARRA 9 0IGLESIAS 8 0JIMENEZ 37 4JUAREZ 32 2LARA 8 0LEAL 54 8LEON 2 1LEOS 27 5LOMAS 11 0LONGORIA 23 0LOPEZ 101 9LOZANO 23 3LUNA 77 6MACHADO 10 2MACIAS 14 0MAGALLANES 11 2MAGANA 9 0MALDONADO 11 0MARMOLEJO 12 1MARTINEZ 183 16MATA 16 0MEDELLIN 9 0MEDINA 51 4MEDRANO 37 3MENCHACA 26 0MENDEZ 26 3MENDOZA 33 0MIRANDA 10 0MIRELES 9 0MOLINA 25 7MONTANEZ 13 0MONTES 1 1MONTOYA 32 0MORALES 82 1MORENO 64 5MUNOZ 8 0NAVARRO 39 3NIETO 29 4NORIEGA 6 0ORNELAS 11 0OROZCO 11 0ORTEGA 3 2ORTIZ 29 1PALOMARES 14 1PATLAN 1 1PENA 22 2PERALES 12 0PEREZ 82 6POLANCO 8 0QUINTANILLA 14 0RAMIREZ 82 12RAMON 22 1RAMOS 59 9RANGEL 69 9RENDON 7 0RESENDEZ 12 2REYES 51 8REYNA 7 2RIOS 26 4RICO 8 0RINCON 5 2RIOJAS 10 0RIVAS 7 0RIVERA 23 2ROBLES 22 2ROCHA 11 0RODRIGUEZ 196 8ROJAS 9 0ROMERO 6 1ROSALES 5 1ROSAS 26 3RUIZ 14 2SAENZ 38 2SALAS 18 1SALAZAR 40 4SALDANA 31 2SALDIVAR 2 1SAMARRIPA 2 2SANCHEZ 140 10SANDOVAL 24 4SAN MIGUEL 2 1SANTOS 16 0SAUCEDA 13 0SEGURA 4 0SEPEDA 13 1SEPULVEDA 5 1SERRALTA 3 2SERNA 18 0SERRANO 1 1SIFUENTES 4 0SILVA 12 0SOLANO 4 0SOLIS 15 1SOSA 13 2SOTELO 2 0SOTELLO 3 0SOTO 40 4SUAREZ 11 9TALAMANTEZ 4 0TENEYUQUE 9 1TIJERINA 16 0TORRES 29 3TOVAR 7 0TREVINO 30 4TRIGO 11 0TRINIDAD 20 8TRISTAN 14 1URDIALES 4 0URIAS 5 0URQUIZA 10 1URRUTIA 3 0VALDEZ 49 2VALLES 6 0VARELA 9 0VARGAS 7 0VASQUEZ 54 0VEGA 24 0VELA 12 0VELASQUEZ 18 0VERA 4 0VIGIL 18 1VILLA 5 0VILLANUEVA 17 2VILLARREAL 35 10VILLEGAS 11 1YANEZ 3 0YBARRA 16 0ZAMORA 11 0ZAPATA 8 0ZAVALA 8 1ZUNIGA 28 0498
Page 1 and 2: La VVozFreeGratisVolume 1 Number 2A
Page 3 and 4: PRODUCTIONEditor & PublisherAlfredo
Page 5 and 6: Historias de SeguínUn panorama del
Page 7 and 8: La Voz de Guadalupe County - June,
Page 9 and 10: La Voz de Guadalupe County - June 2
Page 11: La Voz de Guadalupe County - June,
Page 15 and 16: SOURCE: Texas Public Higher Educati

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