A Poll Worker's Guide to Language Assistance Voting Rights
October 22, 2004
Federal law recognizes that many Americans require information in languages other than English in order to be informed voters and participate in our representative democracy. In fact, many provisions of federal law protect the voting rights of language minority Americans. The keystone of these federal laws, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [P.L. 89-110], as amended, makes it illegal to discriminate based on someone's language proficiency.
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act to guarantee that all Americans would have equal rights in voting. The Act made many of the discriminatory practices of earlier decades illegal, and gave private citizens the right to sue in federal court to stop them. Federal lawmakers also acknowledged that English-only election materials make it difficult for many Americans to vote.
Before you work or volunteer on Election Day, familiarize yourself with the following voting rights:
Any Individual with Limited English Proficiency Has the Right to Bring a Family Member or Friend to Assist Them in the Polling Booth
On Election Day, individuals who are not proficient in English have the right to bring a family member or friend into the polling booth to help interpret the ballot and other election materials. It is important that voters and election workers are aware that this is the law.
Certain Jurisdictions are Required to Provide Bilingual Voting Assistance
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, as amended in 1975 (42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a), further protects the rights of individuals living in jurisdictions that have a large percentage of language minorities. The law covers localities where the Census Bureau determines there are more than 10,000 or over 5% of the voting age citizens who are members of a single minority language group, have lower than average literacy rates, and do not speak English very well. As a result of shifting immigration and demographic patterns, many jurisdictions were newly covered in 2002.
Depending on the state or county, Section 203 may require bilingual election procedures for voters who speak Spanish, Chinese, Filipino languages, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, or more than a dozen Native American and Alaskan Native languages. Covered jurisdictions are required to provide several forms of language assistance, including translated election materials, bilingual ballots, and oral assistance. Information about Section 203, including its text, a list of the more than 330 covered areas, and the Attorney General's Minority Language Guidelines, is on the U.S. Department of Justice web site: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm
Many jurisdictions that are not covered under Section 203 have large or growing numbers of voters who will need language assistance when voting. Election officials and poll workers are encouraged to take the appropriate steps to prepare for and assist these voters.
Historically, individuals who do not understand English have been less likely to vote than other American citizens. Congress found that this is in part because language barriers and discrimination, which have been "pervasive and national in scope," have excluded these citizens from participation in the electoral process. It is therefore critically important that all election officials and poll workers understand the language assistance rights of voters who are not proficient in English and communicate these rights to voters before and on Election Day.
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, National Congress of American Indians, National Council of La Raza
