COLUMBIA, S.C. - A growing number of Hispanic voters are leaning Democrat, seeing the party as the champion for worker and civil rights, the leader of the newly formed Democratic Hispanic Committee said Friday.

But Republicans say the figures simply don't exist to say with certainty that most Hispanics will vote Democratic.

The committee has launched a voter-registration drive to increase the number of Hispanics that can vote, chairman Edgar Medina said.

"Hispanics have seen the failures of the Republican party on immigration and workers rights. The Democratic party seems to share the same values as Hispanics when it comes to health care, education and other issues," Medina said.

A large number of Hispanics are expected to attend the state Democratic Party convention this weekend, said Medina, a former president of the South Carolina Hispanic Leadership Council. He will speak during a breakfast Saturday.

"We want to express that immigration reform is not only on our minds, but the Democratic congress has also made it a top issue," Medina said. "And we expect South Carolina Democrats to follow suit. We don't want to see any division here."

But Hispanics are a diverse group with varied political views and will not all vote the same, said University of South Carolina political scientist Todd Shaw, an expert on minority politics.

"Cubans in Florida would lean more Republican than Puerto Ricans in New York," Shaw said, "Latinos as an identity is what we might call a pan-ethnic identity, meaning that they come from different histories and countries."

But there's a logical reason why Hispanics in South Carolina could align with Democrats, Shaw said.

"Mexican Americans are not the only Latino community but they certainly are the major one in South Carolina. If you match that against issues of jobs, economic development and civil rights, there's sort of a logic reason Latinos in the state may lean more Democratic," Shaw said.

Lachlan McIntosh, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party, said the party has reached out to Hispanic voters.

"A lot of people all over South Carolina are looking at the Democratic Party right now because it's so clear that the Republicans have failed and their looking for a choice," McIntosh said. "People are people. They're looking for better schools and they're looking for affordable health insurance and they're looking for good jobs. And the Republicans are just falling flat on their faces on those issues."

But Scott Malyerck, executive director of the state Republican Party, says Democrats are using social issues like immigration to attract Hispanic voters.

"Our plan has been to reach out to not only Hispanics, but to African-Americans, women, men, older folks, young folks and new voters. I think our party has a strong message of inclusion and we'll never change that message for any one particular group," Malyerck said.

There are 13,951 registered Hispanic voters in South Carolina, but the State Election Commission does not keep records of the number of Hispanics registered with a political party. In April 2004, there were 9,405 registered Hispanic voters in the state.

The state did not list Hispanic as an ethnicity choice on voter registration forms until October 1986, when 26 registered.

"We will have an impact on this election," Medina said.