Latino voters in the South Bay made their voice heard when they went to the polls during this week’s elections.

    Although the County of San Diego Registrar of Voters does not keep voter statistics by ethnicity, polling places in San Ysidro and Chula Vista showed a great number of Latinos going in to vote.

    Many of them were voting for the first time, after becoming citizens. Others headed to the polls looking for a change that would improve their communities. Still others said they wanted to make sure to have a representative who knew the Latino community needs.

    But for the majority, participating in the elections was an act of patriotism, of being Americans.

    “It’s not only my duty, it is my privilege,” said Sandy Lopez, a retired San Ysidro resident. Lopez was with two of her grandchildren putting signs of support for 79th District Assembly candidate Pearl Quiñones, who after all precincts had been counted, was about 14 percent behind her opponent, San Diego City Councilmember Ben Hueso.

    For Roberto Hernández, another San Ysidro resident, voting is also a duty.

    “It is a responsibility we have, to try to elect the best representatives for our community,” he said.

    Ana Lucia Guevara went to the polls with her young daughter. Guevara said she wanted to set an example for her daughter.

    “I’m not only helping the community and being part of the decision-taking process. I’m also encouraging my daughter to do the same when she’s an adult,” she said.

    Outside polling places there were people with signs in support of specific candidates. At the San Ysidro Senior Center, Noé Aparicio, a San Diego taxi driver, was on the sidewalk with a sign in support of City of San Diego District 8 candidate Felipe Hueso. For Aparicio, it’s important for Latinos to participate, no matter who they were voting for.

   “I think it’s important to have good representation. It’s good to get involved,” he said.

   Next to Aparicio were two women with signs in favor of District 8 candidate David Alvarez. At press time, Alvarez and Hueso were the leading candidates in this race, where the two top vote-getters will again face each other in November.

   “I vote to try to make a change in the community,” said Raquel Morán, a 64 year old small business owner from San Ysidro who was rooting for Alvarez. “San Ysidro has been neglected for so many years. We have faith that our candidates will create positive changes here.”

   Deborah Seiler, San Diego County Registrar of Voters, said in an interview that in these elections there were 54 candidates with Spanish surnames, although she couldn’t confirm if all of them were Latinos. The Registrar of Voters doesn’t require candidates to declare their ethnicity or race.

   She said that some of the highest profile local contests included the 79th Assembly District and the 40th State Senate District, which after 100 percent of the polls had been counted, Assemblymember Mary Salas was ahead of Juan Vargas by more than 1 percent.

     “I’m humbled by the show of support that I have received from voters across the 40th Senate District,” said Assembly-member Mary Salas the day after the elections. “This was a contentious and hard fought campaign, and I appreciate the spirited debate with my opponent. But now is the time to move on and prepare to govern. We need to get to work right away on getting good paying jobs for our community, access to quality affordable healthcare, and greater funding for education. With the economic climate in California, we can ill afford a protracted and expensive process that will end once again with my victory.”

   Seiler encouraged Latinos to always get involved and go out and vote during elections.

   “It’s important for Latinos voters to participate because we have a heavy concentration of Latinos in San Diego County,” she said. “It’s important to make their voices heard and represented.”

   For Herman Baca, president of the Committee on Chicano Rights, the results of these elections “are a disaster for our community.”

   “I wouldn’t give five pesos for all the Latino candidates. We do not have the infrastructure to sustain any political activity,” he said. “We have no political representation. We can’t even make our so called Latino politicians accountable. Is not a matter of registering people, but you also have to educate them, politicize them, help them understand what their interests are.”

   About Latino candidates, Baca said that “what we have is a personality contest. None of them deliver.”