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The largest gathering of Latino elected officials in the United States projects a record number of Hispanic voters in next year's election.

The National Association of Elected and Appointed Officials -- NALEO -- kicked off Thursday with the release of the groups' projections of Latino participation in the 2012 elections.

They expect 12.2 million Hispanic Americans will go to the polls, which would be an increase of 25% from 2008.

But Arturo Vargas, NALEO's executive director says his group expects another 12 million Latinos to stay home.

"We need to develop a culture of participation in which we vote every year," Vargas said.

The projections are based in the results of the 2010 census, which showed there are more of 50 million Latinos in the United States.

Vargas said the influence of the Latino vote was evident in 2008, crediting this block with helping Democrats retain control of the U.S. Senate, including saving the seat of the Majority Leader Harry Reed of Nevada.

He also noted that the greatest gains by Latino elected officials was within the GOP, sending Florida's Marco Rubio to the Senate, electing Republican governors in Nevada and New Mexico and adding four more U.S. representatives, two of whom came from states not traditionally considered Hispanic strongholds such as Washington and Idaho. READ MORE