You may remember the millions of people who protested against crackdowns against illegal immigrants several months ago. During those protests, one explicit message that organizers wanted to put forward was that these protests were the stepping stone toward unprecedented voter turnout in the near future. But as the Associated Press reports, states are still waiting to see those influx of new voters:

An Associated Press review of voter registration figures from Chicago, Denver, Houston, Atlanta and other major urban areas that saw large rallies shows no sign of a historic new voter boom that could sway elections. Even in Los Angeles, where a 500,000-strong protest in March foreshadowed demonstrations across the United States, an increase in new registrations before the June primary was more trickle than torrent in a county of nearly 4 million voters.

Protest organizers -- principally unions, Hispanic advocacy groups and the Roman Catholic Church -- acknowledge that it has been hard to translate street activism into ballot box clout, though they insist their goal of 1 million new voters by 2008 is reachable. . . . Some activists acknowledge that their groups have yet to master the nuances of voter registration drives -- a typically face-to-face task more complex than mobilizing a march. Others complain that political parties with the most to gain haven’t financed registration efforts.

There is still time left to accomplish that goal, of course, so immigration activists and their supporters should not panic just yet. At the same time, it’s clear that there is a lot more work that needs to be done before we can see tangible results from those historic marches back in the spring. Until then however, as the article points out, the slogan of “Today We March, Tomorrow We Vote” will remain only a slogan until we translate it into true political power at the ballot box.