NewsHour Election
Night Analysis

Regional Analysis
of the Election

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Other delegates react to the night's results

One of the biggest questions is how all of the newly registered voters will affect the outcome of the election. In the past four years, the Los Angeles County Democratic Party has registered a record number of new citizens, many of them Hispanic. Most of these Hispanic citizens registered as Democrats, and have been looking forward to casting their first ballot in an American Presidential election. Tonight, as I was channel surfing, I watched HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros being interviewed on a Spanish speaking television station. He was commenting on how the large number of newly registered Spanish speaking citizens would impact the elections. I was fascinated because I don't think I've ever seen a cabinet member speaking in a foreign language on American television. It shows the growing strength of Latinos in California, a political faction that it growing in strength.

A local conservative group called Voice of Citizens Together threatened to picket polling places, and hold up signs reminding voters that only citizens may vote. I have not heard of any incidents yet, but this kind of voter intimidation has occurred before in Orange County, and we may see more of it in the future from those who are threatened by the voting power of thousands of newly enfranchised citizens.