PHOENIX (CBS5) -
The Latino vote is growing in Arizona and lawmakers are taking notice.
State Senator Jerry Lewis was among the speakers at the Town Hall today called Arizona's Emerging Latino Vote.
Arizona Latino Research Enterprise and the Raul H. Castro Institute at Phoenix College sponsored the event.
The groups say Latino voter turnout in the Phoenix city elections tripled last year and of the total Latino voters in the state eighty percent of them are concentrated in Maricopa and Pima counties.
"So if you hit those counties and you're effective at what you're doing you're going to have a dramatic impact, not just on those counties, the concentration of those urban center there, but you're going to have an impact, ultimately on general elections, statewide elections," shared James Garcia with the Arizona Hispanic Chamber.
The groups say Latino voters played a pivotal role in at least four races in Maricopa County last year including the recall of former State Senate President Russell Pearce.
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