Section 7 : Recommendation and Futher Research
Academic research has demonstrated that voter registration requirements impede voter participation, especially among certain demographic groups.78 Rosenstone and Hansen (1993)79 summarized their research regarding one important registration requirement, the closing date of voter registration in the particular state:
The longer before an election people must act to
ensure their eligibility to vote, the more likely they will fail to
do so. Compared to citizens who live in states that allow
registration right up to Election Day, citizens who live in
states with thirty-day closing dates are 3.0 percent less likely
to vote, and citizens who live in states with sixty-day closing
dates are 5.6 percent less likely to vote. Early closing dates, by
requiring people to register long before campaigns have
reached their climax and mobilization efforts have entered
high gear, depress voter participation in American elections.
Early closing dates have their greatest impact on the people who are least likely to vote anyway: Given that they lack the resources to overcome the costs of turning out, it is surely no surprise that they also lack the resources to offset the additional burdens of registration. Sixty-day closing dates reduce the turnout of the poorest Americans by 6 percent by depress the turnout of the wealthiest Americans by only 3 percent. They diminish the turnout of the grade school educated by 6 percent but lessen the turnout of the college educated by only 4 percent. Early closing dates, finally, inhibit African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Puerto Ricans slightly more than other citizens.80
Thus, voter registration requirements are important because they fundamentally impact voter turnout and therefore election outcomes.
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Alvarez summarizes that Voter Registration systems must be timely, current, accessible,
fraud-proof, and responsive to the local conditions. It is likely that Alvarez’s
categorization of voter registration systems and support efforts can facilitate in increasing
the Dominican voter turnout. Voter registration must be flexible to the needs of the
voting contingency so as to facilitate the participation of the populous. It is likely that
similar to Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans, Dominicans are as adversely affected
by early voter registration closing dates. While previous studies do suggest that
Dominicans have turned out to vote, the voter turnout can still be improved; moreover,
we need to be concerned that as the Dominican population becomes more integrated into
the American culture we protect upcoming youth from the voting apathy often observed
in the inner cities and poor ethnic communities around the US.
Create credible and stable research partnerships with educational institutions
The Dominican community is in need of analytical and quantitative forward thinkers.
We need respected scholars who understand the US Dominican agenda to start thinking
analytically and critically about issues that concern and affect the Dominican community.
These scholars must come from a wide range of academic disciplines, such as, policy analysts,
demographers, economists, political scientist, and toxicologist.
It is just as important that they be respected and recognized within their respective fields.
As evidenced in this report, there is a need for voter registration estimation methods,
population estimate projection models, census-tract based district mapping for economic
assessments of policy impacts and/or risk assessment. Once these tools and Dominican-specific
indicators exists then forward-looking leaders will be able to think progressively and
preventively about Dominican concerns and serve as the impetus of social change a priori.
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As the Dominicans community continues to grow it is imperative that a created agenda truly
represents the needs of all Dominicans across the country. Mechanisms and institutions must
exists within the Dominican community to create partnerships and research coalitions with other
leading institutions around the country that are sensitive to the concerns of US Dominicans and
Latinos throughout the country and in their respective localized area. We need to start gathering
more information from the Western, Mid-western and Southern Dominican communities within the US.
In many cases, we need to be able to share and exchange with these newer Dominican enclaves the
lessons learned from more established communities in the Northeast.
Further Research
The potential for further research opportunities abound throughout this report.
We encourage scholars to delve through this report and produce more accurate population
distribution results at a congressional district level. There are other areas where further
research is needed. For example, there is a need for methodologies/models that calculate
the percentage distribution of registered voters at different geographic levels, such as a
county and a redistricted zone. There is also a need to derive formulas that make use of
Dominican-specific indicators to estimate population projections. Lastly, trustworthy
organizations and/or companies are needed who have the interest of the Dominican community
at heart and have the capacity and resources to start conducting reliable exit polls.
However, all of the above will not be possible unless sustainable institutions that incorporate
Dominicans in the American polity are supported.
Foreign-born Dominicans bring a legacy of having strong and often authoritarian political
leadership that is different from the way American politics is practiced.
We need to reprogram and train newly naturalized Americans, respectively,
as to how the American political
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process works. The ideals, opportunities and power
channels are not necessarily obvious to those who are concerned with daily subsistence needs.
As such, it is imperative that sustainable institutions that represent the needs and interests
of the Dominican-American community be financially supported.
However, sustainable institutions are not grown overnight. The Dominican-American leadership should
focus on building institutional capacity of at all levels of the American society.
Thus, it is critical for the community leadership, those with a vested interest in
the improvement of the Dominican community, and those who have financially benefited
from the same to invest in credible non-partisan institutions that represent the needs
and desires of Dominican-Americans. Transparency, stable programming, credible work
products and dedicated leadership are the criteria on which to judge an institution
representing community needs.
The building of capacity will in turn allow organizations and national institutions
representing Dominican-Americans to push for national agenda-making items -- and be heard.
This report is an exploratory effort to assist local, state and national Dominican and
Latino-focused institutions that are interested in increasing voter registration and voter
turnout of the Dominican community at the congressional district level. Because of the
limitations of the data, this can only serve as a starting point.
The findings should inspire those in the academia to conduct more in-depth studies that
improve the methodology reported. It should also engage community activist to advocate
for those Dominicans that do not yet have a political voice and to lobby for more reliable
Dominican focused data collection. As Dominican-Americans gain political power,
it is critical that a unified voice represents and demands a better quality of life for all Dominicans.
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