Why allow voting in Spanish?

Last week, Kane County came to an agreement with the US Department of Justice, to provide bi-lingual elections judges in 49 precincts in the County. This agreement was triggered due to failure to comply (mainly in Carpentersville/Dundee Township) with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as authorized by the establishment of the Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution.

The Fifteen Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1870:

Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

However it is said that “it was not really until the Voting Rights Act in 1965, almost a century later, that the full promise of the fifteenth amendment was actually achieved in all states.” [Source: Wikipedia]

Both the Amendment and the Act (which was most recently reauthorized in 2006) were written particularly to deal with issues emerging from slavery to provide voting rights for African-Americans and other non-white minorities. Today, that debate is being renewed, but this time mainly related to Spanish-speaking immigrants.

In the 60’s it was polling taxes and literacy tests that were being used/proposed in order to keep minorities from voting. Today, it is language.

It is important to consider, however, that such legislation was written to be race or color neutral:

The Act requires bilingual election procedures in various states and counties for voters who speak Spanish, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese, and more than a dozen Native American and Alaskan Native languages.

There are a number of objections raised about this, and in terms of Kane County, it has to do with Spanish speaking voters. A recent letter to the editor appearing in the Daily Herald raised several questions:

Why don’t the Spanish speakers hire their own interpreters?

The Voting Rights Act was specifically established to remove such impediments that historically had been used to prevent minorities, including language minorities, from fully participating in the electoral process.

Who is voting in Spanish anyway?

Fellow citizens, typically first-generation immigrants.

If only Americans can vote, then we seem to have a lot of U.S. citizens who don’t speak English. How can they become citizens if they don’t speak English?

Many first-generation citizens understand spoken English better than they speak or read it. As such, they feel more comfortable reading or speaking in Spanish in situations where it is important to understand or make oneself understood. There is already a limited amount of English required to pass the citizenship exam, however, that does not necessarily translate into a level of fluency that would make voting impediment-free.

When are we as a society going to come to grips with the fact that our language and culture are being undermined by non-English speaking immigrants who refuse to assimilate?

When one looks honestly at the issue, it is not a matter of “refusing to assimilate”, and a study I posted a link to a few days ago found that the English language and the “American culture” are in no danger.

The study can be found here. The report’s synopsis states:

Although the life expectancy of Spanish is found to be greater among Mexicans in Southern California compared to other groups, its ultimate demise nonetheless seems assured by the third generation. English has never been seriously threatened as the dominant language of the United States, and it is not threatened today—not even in Southern California. What is endangered instead is the survivability of the non-English languages that immigrants bring with them to the United States.

A relevant portion of the study concluded:

…while 100% of new immigrants speak fluent Spanish, only 35% of their children do, and 3rd and 4th generation (grandchildren/great grandchildren) only 17% and 5% respectively.

Allowing participation in our electoral process is very much part of assimilation into American life. (Although voter apathy and indifference has unfortunately also become a part of American life.)

By removing such impediments to the voting process we are maintaining and re-asserting the very principles of non-discrimination that we pride ourselves on as Americans.

Reference links:

• Voting Rights Act of 1965 – US Department of Justice
• Voting Rights Act of 1965 – Wikipedia
  
• Lingquistic Life Expectancies [Study] – Pop. & Development Review, 9/06
• Fifteen Amendment to the Constitution of the United States –Wikipedia
• GOP Rebellion Stops Voting Rights Act – Washington Post
• House Renews Voting Rights Act Unchanged –CBS News

Justice Dept, Kane Co. agree to protect voter’s rights

I received the following tonite from Silvia Realzola of Carpentersville Community Alliance. You can read about the events surrounding this agreement and what lead to it in a story published in the Daily Herald.

This is a result of the hard work of many people and organizations. Thank you to everyone! This battle was started several years ago and the outcome is GREAT! This demonstrates that following the process and working together for an end purpose will get POSITIVE results – it may take some time, but in the end working together for positive change can happen. Once again thank you to all those poll watchers, election judges, volunteers that put in endless hours for the benefit of our community.We must continue to work together – positive change can happen!

Silvia Realzola, President
Carpentersville Community Alliance

From: USDOJ-Office of Public Affairs
To: USDOJ-Office of Public Affairs
Sent: Wed Sep 26 18:59:58 2007
Subject: JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF HISPANIC AND SPANISH-SPEAKING VOTERS IN KANE COUNTY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2007
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT PROTECTING
THE RIGHTS OF HISPANIC AND SPANISH-SPEAKING VOTERS IN KANE COUNTY

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced today the settlement of a lawsuit against Kane County, Ill., alleging violations of the rights of Spanish-speaking voters under the Voting Rights Act. The settlement agreement with Kane County requires the county to provide all voting materials and assistance in Spanish as well as in English and ensures that limited English-proficient voters can receive assistance from the persons of their choice. It also permits the Justice Department to monitor future elections.

“Every citizen has a right to vote, regardless of what language they speak,” said Rena J. Comisac, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “Today’s agreement removes a procedural impediment to voting which hindered significant numbers of language minority citizens from exercising that right. The county should be congratulated for resolving the issue quickly and constructively.”

“The right to vote is a fundamental guarantee for all American citizens,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “Without the assistance necessary to ensure equal access to the polls, Spanish speakers cannot exercise that right effectively. We are pleased that the county has agreed to resolve this complaint.”

The complaint charged that the county failed to provide Spanish-language assistance at the polls to the majority of its Spanish-speaking voters in recent elections and that the county prevented Spanish-speaking voters from receiving assistance from the persons of their choice, even in cases where bilingual assistance was otherwise unavailable. The settlement agreement resolves all of the charges in the complaint and was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois contemporaneously with the complaint and an accompanying order allowing federal observers to monitor Election Day activities in its polling places. The order still must be approved by a panel of three judges.

The Voting Rights Act requires that certain jurisdictions with a substantial minority-language voter population, which includes Kane County, provide all voting materials and assistance in the minority language as well as in English. The Act also assures voters who need assistance in voting, such as those unable to see or read the ballot, the right to receive that assistance from a person of their choice, other than the voter’s employer or union representative.

Since 2002, the Division has brought more than twice the number of lawsuits to enforce the minority language provisions of the Act than it brought in the preceding 26 years combined; all but one of the lawsuits were to enforce the assistance provision of the Act. During this time period, the Division has filed successful Voting Rights Act lawsuits across the country, with cases in Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, and has filed the first cases in its history on behalf of Filipino, Korean, Haitian, and Vietnamese American voters.

To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931. More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice Web site at www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm.

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DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE USE THE CONTACTS IN THE MESSAGE OR CALL THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT 202-514-2007.