Last week, the Census Bureau released its list of covered
jurisdictions that will be required to provide bilingual ballots for
the upcoming 2012 elections. This list includes 248 counties in 25
states. The states of Florida, California, and Texas will be required
to foot the burdensome bill to print foreign-language ballots for the
entire state because they surpass the threshold of 5 percent of voting
age citizens, or 10,000 such citizens (whichever is less), who are
deemed limited-English proficient (LEP).

Is your county on the list? Check now http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2011-26293_PI.pdf

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was originally enacted to prohibit
state and local governments from denying or abridging the right to
vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude,"
a right guaranteed by the 15th Amendment. But in 1975, Congress
greatly expanded the VRA’s original intent by inserting special
protections for "language minorities” –that is, American Indians,
Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, and citizens of Spanish Heritage.
Although the bilingual ballot provisions were originally intended to
be temporary remedies, Congress renewed them in 1982, 1992, and again
in 2006 for another 25 years.

Congress should REPEAL bilingual ballots for these reasons:

•Protection for limited English proficient voters already exists.
Current law states: “Any voter who requires assistance to vote by
reason of blindness, disability, or inability to read or write,”
including limited English proficient persons, “may be given assistance
by a person of the voter’s choice.”

•They contradict current naturalization law and undermine
assimilation. Since 1907, Congress has required candidates for
naturalization to demonstrate “an understanding of the English
language, including an ability to read, write, and speak English in
ordinary usage in the English language.”

•They are unfunded mandates and a growing financial burden on
affected states and counties. Los Angeles County, for example, paid
$3.3 million in 2002 to provide materials in Spanish, Chinese,
Vietnamese, Japanese and Filipino.

•They are wasteful. The Government Accountability Office (GAO)
reported to Congress in 1986 that there was widespread evidence that
multilingual ballots and election materials are barely used in
practice.

•They increase the risk of errors and fraud. Multilingual ballots
have resulted in a series of embarrassing errors. In 2000, six polls
in heavily Chinese precincts of Queens, N.Y. had “Democratic”
translated in Chinese as “Republican.” Bilingual ballots also
increases the risk that non-citizens will knowingly or unknowingly
vote illegally, and increases the risk of voter intimidation,
manipulation, and fraud.

•The American people are opposed to multilingual ballots. A June 2011
Rasmussen poll found that 58 percent of likely voters including 60
percent of independent voters oppose printing ballots in languages
other than English.

There is no justification for this absurd, arbitrary and budget
busting provision, especially since it means that every municipality
within a covered jurisdiction must provide multilingual election
materials—even if everyone there speaks English!

TAKE ACTION!

Was your county on the list?

If so, here are TWO things you can do to help fight back:

1. If your county is on the list, call your local county clerk's
office NOW!
Urge your county clerk to consider bringing a lawsuit challenging the
constitutionality of the bilingual ballot provisions contained in
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act!

2. Call and email your Congressman NOW and tell him to co-sponsor
H.R. 1164, the National Language Act of 2011, if he has not yet signed
on in support. This bill would repeal the bilingual ballot mandate
for federal elections in addition to making English the official
language of the U.S.!

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

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