During this month’s election, the Ohio Republican Party appeared to have a new segment of the minority vote – the Hispanic vote.

Their added support may have helped the GOP capture nearly every office throughout the state.

Hispanics generally have been active in the Ohio Republican Party, said Deborah Burstion-Donbraye, director of the party’s minority outreach initiative, Campaign America.

“Considering past voting patterns, it would not be wrong to say Hispanics vote for the republican ticket in higher numbers than other minority groups, like blacks,” Burstion-Donbraye said.

Burstion-Donbraye gave several reasons as to why Hispanics are attracted to the Republican Party platform. These reasons include the party’s promotion of a better economy, strong families, good education and, most importantly, the view that wage earners should be able to keep most of their money and not have it taken away in taxes.

“The ability to keep more of the money one earns is good for all but is especially important for those groups that historically and disproportionately have greater needs,” Burstion-Donbraye said.

Humberto Gonzalez, a board member on Ohio’s Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, agrees that the idea of little government interference in the lives of its citizens is what attracts many Hispanics to the Republican Party.

“We like to come to this country and pull ourselves up by our bootstrings, without relying on government and social programs,” he said. “It is important for the government to just let us grow.”

While it looks like Hispanics around Columbus and the greater Ohio area may be leaning more toward the right, members of the Hispanic community on the Ohio State campus disagree with this notion.

Florentina Staigners, president of Ohio State’s Latino fraternity, Alpha Psi Lambda, said the numbers may be disproportionate since many Hispanics in Ohio can’t vote because they’re not aware of their rights or because of the language barrier.

“Maybe the small numbers of Hispanics that do vote, vote more for Republicans, but it’s not right to say Hispanics like the Republican party more since most of them can’t even vote,” she said.

In fact, according to the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute there are 140,000 Hispanics in Ohio of voting age, but only 55,000 are registered to vote.

This might be the reason Gonzalez and other Hispanic leaders are so concerned about getting Hispanics more involved in the electoral process.

“Our goal is to get the Latino community organized,” he said. “Our first objective is to get Hispanics to vote, those who can must participate.”

While Gonzalez said he believes Hispanics will continue to play a significant role in the government as their numbers increase, they are not doing a good enough job of getting their own representatives in office.

“From my perspective, we need to develop a Latino leadership in order to level the playing field,” he said. “Right now I don’t think we are doing a very good job at that.”

Burstion-Donbraye said there were several Hispanic candidates on the republican ticket in this past election, and the party has been trying to increase voter registration of Hispanics throughout the state.