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When Alma Maria Paredes came to Tucson from Los Angeles four years ago, she did everything she could to make her new home and life comfortable.

There was one exception. She didn't register to vote.

There were a number of reasons, said Paredes, who was a registered voter in California.

She was too busy. She didn't know where to submit her registration form. She was unfamiliar with local politics.

But at the urging of a neighbor who recruits Latino voters for the Pima County Republican Party, Paredes recently registered to vote as a Republican.

While she is not eligible to vote in Tuesday's primary election, Paredes intends to do so in the November general election.

"I became a citizen because I would have more rights, including the right to vote," said Paredes, a 53-year-old housekeeper at Tucson Medical Center.

Good for Paredes, who first came to this country as an illegal immigrant and received amnesty in 1987 when Republican Ronald Reagan was president.

Unfortunately, Paredes is a rarity, according to a recent Associated Press story published in this newspaper.

The AP reported voter registration among Latinos has been negligible in the aftermath of the large demonstrations by Latino immigrants and their supporters earlier this year. The AP reviewed voter registration records in several U.S. cities, including Tucson and Phoenix.

While community and church groups, and political parties, have increased their efforts to register Latino voters, Latinos are not responding. Numerous studies, from the U.S. Census Bureau to the Pew Hispanic Center, and anecdotal stories, support the AP's report.

It's too bad. It's politically suicidal.

For all the talk in the Latino community about being ignored by government, Latinos have failed to register and to vote.

We have failed ourselves, our families and the larger community.

Tucsonan Yolanda Gil, who has voted since Dwight Eisenhower was president, has no explanation.

"To us it's an honor and privilege to vote," said Gil, a registered Republican, whose husband, Luis Gil Jr., is a registered Democrat. "We come from people who strongly believe in voting."

Reasons abound as to why Latino voter registration and voter turnout is low compared with non-Latinos.

Many Latinos are noncitizens and below the minimum voting age. That's true.

The political parties have been slow and organized too few efforts in registering Latinos. There's some truth to this.

Latinos are turned off by the political process and feel alienated. They believe their votes will not make a difference. Well, who doesn't sometimes feel disconnected from politics?

And Latino voters and registration efforts are harassed. Very true.

In the November 2004 election, local anti-immigration activist Russ Dove intimidated Latino voters by standing outside a South Side voting location in a black T-shirt emblazoned with "U.S. Constitution Enforcement" and videotaping voters as they entered the poll. And last week in Georgia, organizers of a Latino voter registration drive received a threatening phone call, disrupting the effort, The Associated Press reported.

However, as valid as the reasons are, they become excuses. Latinos eligible to vote have run out of excuses.

In the 2004 presidential election, 79 percent of voters were white, 11 percent were black, 6 percent were Hispanic and 2 percent were Asian, according to the U.S. Census.

A Pew Hispanic Center study showed that Hispanic ages 18 and older total 27 million, that 16 million are citizens and that 9.3 million are registered to vote.

A national coalition aims to boost voter turnout by registering 1 million Latino voters by the 2008 election.

The effort can be successful. But more Latinos have to quit making excuses, register and vote.

"If we don't vote," said Paredes, the one-time illegal immigrant, "we don't count."