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Which way the minority vote will swing has become a major talking point during the presidential race.

This is a fact not lost on Pastor Gregory Ford, with the First Assembly Cornerstone Church in Fort Myers, who said Election 2008 is definitely on the minds of his congregation.

“It is the talk of the town,” Ford said Friday. “How close the race is, and how it’s important that the people involved have participation with the minority vote.”

With November’s showdown building up to be a highly contested election, efforts to register minority voters and get people excited about the election is shifting into high gear in Southwest Florida. The mantra is “every vote counts.”

And minority community leaders are picking up on that.

Leonardo Garcia, the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce executive director, urged government and political party officials Friday to be more proactive in reaching out to the minority community and to use the infrastructure that’s already in place to do so.

“We’re here, we don’t have to go after them,” said Garcia, adding that in spite of the general election 61⁄2 months away, his organization had yet to be contacted by either political party or a Supervisor of Elections’ office.

“They (elections and party officials) have to utilize our resources,” he said. “We’re here to facilitate their work.”

And if they are going to reach out to the minority communities, Garcia said, they should not wait until the end.

“It takes time,” Garcia said of building a rapport with usually disenfranchised communities. “If they are already doing some other sort of education in the community, they should also be talking to us.”

Ford agreed, adding that although his congregation has not conducted a full-out voter registration campaign, the church would be concentrating on educating voters and making sure they exercise their rights.

“A lot of emphasis on people getting onboard,” said Ford, adding that the Fort Myers National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has stepped up to help. “We’re just encouraging people.”

As for what he’d like to see from government and political party officials, Ford said, just getting out there and staying at it is a great start.

“A lot of times when it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind,” Ford said. “(The importance of voting) has to stay in the hearts and minds of the people.”

Out of Collier’s 194,910 registered voters, 5,456 are African-American and 14,135 are Hispanic. Meanwhile, out of Lee County’s 287,904 registered voters, 11,441 are African-American and 16,622 are Hispanic.

However, minorities tend to have low turnout rates on Election Day — especially Hispanics.

To change that and reach into these communities, Collier and Lee county officials said their respective elections’ departments have stepped up voter registration and education efforts, as well as recruiting minority poll workers to help out during the election season.

“Currently we have 43 poll workers that provide bilingual services in our precincts,” said Collier County Supervisor of Elections Jennifer J. Edwards on Thursday.

Nevertheless, county officials said, the elections department still needs help engaging minority groups and community leaders early in the process.

“You are in the community all this time, you all have to talk up the importance of voting,” said Gary Beauchamp, Collier’s chief deputy supervisor of elections. “They need to hear about the importance of voting from people other than just us.”

Lee County has also been very busy with its outreach efforts, said Sharon L. Harrington, Lee County Supervisor of Elections.

“The whole thing is that we have a lot of people that are registered,” Harrington. “(Now) we’ve got to get those people out and voting.”

A task, Harrington said, that will take some time.

“That’s the word we are going to try to get out this summer,” she said. “There really is no excuse with those three options (early voting, absentee voting or voting on Election Day) available to not vote. It’s good to get them registered, but once they get registered they need to participate.”

Harrington said the Jan. 29 primary’s turnout was a good sign of things to come.

“I think we’re going to have an interesting election year,” she said.

But government officials aren’t the only ones with a keen interest in the minority vote.

Both major political parties have been trying to make inroads with minority voters.

“From our party leaders on down, they (minorities) are in the fold,” said Florida Democratic Party spokesman Alejandro Miyar on Thursday. “We make certain that we do whatever we can to have them engaged in the process.”

However, Miyar said, the history doesn’t mean that the party is resting on its laurels.

“We’ve ramped up our efforts statewide, to have a bigger outreach,” he said. “We’re very excited of building more of a base there (in Southwest Florida).”

The Republican Party of Florida and the Collier County Republican Executive Committee are also revving up outreach to minorities.

Collier Committee chairwoman Carla Dean admitted that in the past, Collier’s Republican Party did not always reach out to minority voters.

But that’s changed this election cycle.

“We are going to be much more aggressive than in the past,” said Dean, adding that she believes that the Republican Party holds many of the same core family values as minority communities.

Ford said that, with everyone vying for the minority votes and with the fact that this election is different from others due to the current Democratic candidates, that Southwest Florida may be surprised come November.

“I believe we are going to see a major increase in the African-American vote this year,” said Ford. “It’s going to be off the charts, because people really want to see a change.”

Most of all, Ford said, the major political players are finally acknowledging the importance of the minority community — and their vote.

“We do matter,” Ford said. “And (the minority community will) step up.”