The Caribbean Power Vote in S. Florida: Have you registered 537 New Voters Yet?

At the America Coming Together office on Biscayne Boulevard and NE 27th Street, a sign asks in stark red marker: Have you registered 537 new voters yet? That is the number by which George W. Bush ostensibly beat Al Gore in Florida in 2000, nudging the Republican candidate into the presidency. For the 2004 presidential race, the slogan on the lips of activists across the political spectrum is: Every vote counts . In Florida, every vote counts more. A possible ace in the hole: South Florida's immigrant population, which is seen as a vast, untapped reservoir of eligible but unregistered voters. Suddenly Haitian nursing assistants, Cuban line cooks, and Jamaican churchgoers are as much in demand as Ohio's soccer moms and North Carolina's NASCAR dads. [more]