Washington -- The League of Women Voters, a non-partisan national volunteer group, seeks to reverse low voter turnouts in previous U.S. elections by helping to register millions of new U.S. voters by the November 5 presidential election, according to the group's president, Becky Cain.

Speaking September 10 on WorldNet, the U.S. Information Agency's satellite television program, Cain said only about 47 percent of the people who were eligible to vote in the 1992 presidential election actually turned out at the polls.

Cain said that making people eligible to vote does not mean they will do so. First, a person must register to vote, which many Americans, she said, do not bother to do because they are "alienated" from the political system, feeling the election has nothing to do with their personal lives.

Cain said that of those registered to vote in the United States, 85 percent did so in the last presidential election. However, she said, 70 million Americans who met all the requirements to vote -- such as being 18 years old and legal citizens -- were not registered.

That's why, she told audiences in San Salvador and Guatemala City, "the registration process is so critical. We hope to get 20 million new people registered by November so they will be able to vote for the first time."

Cain, who is the 14th president of the League, which was started in 1920 to get Americans involved in their country's political process, said attempts in the past to get Americans to vote have taken the wrong approach. Rather than trying to convince people their vote "can make a difference" in the political system, she said, the better approach is to convince people that whom they vote for and the laws these people enact will "really impact them on their everyday lives. It's going to impact their family's economic security, their children's education and safety and if we can help people see that then they'll be motivated to vote. If they don't see the connection, they won't."

The registration effort, Cain said, is being undertaken in conjunction with implementation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (known as the motor-voter law), which allows eligible voters to register when they renew their automobile driver's license. While doing so, they can also fill out an application for a voter registration form.

Over 90 percent of the people in the United States who are eligible to vote own a car and have a driver's license, Cain said, which means the law "would reach a lot of people automatically."

When the law was implemented in 1993, Cain said, 11 million citizens registered to vote for the first time or corrected information on the voter information rolls. By November 5, Cain said, 20 million Americans will have used "this process" to register to vote and "that's very exciting for us ... because we want everyone to participate" in the election. Cain helped lead the fight for passage of the motor-voter measure.

Cain also discussed the League's "Emerging Democracies" program, which began in Europe and now has expanded to Latin America. The program, she said, brings women to the United States for two weeks and offers them a detailed look at how the American political system works, while living in the homes of League members. After the women complete their 2-week visit, the League gives them a small amount of money so they can start non-governmental organizations for voter education efforts in their own countries.

The program has proven inspiring, Cain said, because League members have found they have a "lot to learn" from their Latin American colleagues.

"Many of our experiences, she said, "pale in comparison" to the achievements and sacrifices (of Latin Americans) to enfranchise their own citizens and establish a democratic system of government."