California voters to get added access in 14 languages for 2020 elections, court rules
Election materials in 2020 will be available in 14 Asian languages for limited-English proficient voters, the California Court of Appeal ruled this month.
The Nov. 4 ruling stipulated that California’s Secretary of State Alex Padilla has improperly used the federal standard’s higher-percentage threshold of voting age citizens to determine which languages receive services, therefore depriving those entitled to access under state law.
More than 1.7 million foreign-born Californians with their native tongue don’t speak English very well, Census Bureau 2018 estimates show. The languages that will see new or expanded language assistance in the upcoming elections are spoken by nearly 57,000 residents, the Asian Americans Advancing Justice said in a news release.
State law makes language assistance mandatory for voters in each county or precincts in which 3 percent or more of the voting-age residents are members of a “single language minority” and not sufficiently skilled enough to vote in English without assistance. The ruling affirmed that Padilla wrongfully imported the federal acquirement of 5 percent instead of 3 percent as specified by state law.
The languages to be included in the voting materials are: Bengali, Burmese, Gujarati, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Lao, Mien, Mongolian, Nepali, Tamil, Thai, Telugu and Urdu. Many are previously not covered in California, according to the release.
Materials such as translated facsimile ballots – for voters to refer to on English ballots – will be provided, among other resources in the 14 languages. The translations will be placed in conspicuous locations in the appropriate polling areas.
The languages with expanded access to translated voting materials in 2020 are Hmong and Punjabi.
The lawsuit was filed by The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California, AAAJ Los Angeles, AAAJ Asian Law Caucus and the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.
“Today’s decision will make it possible for many thousands of Californians to participate fully and equally in our democratic process,” said William Freeman, a senior counsel with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. “California must continue to be in the forefront of encouraging robust voter participation by our state’s diverse communities.”
Barriers such as learning disabilities arising from post-war trauma and day-to-day surviving in a new system make it hard for many immigrants to have time or the capacity to learn English after moving to the United States, said Chiem-Seng Yaangh, adviser of Iu-Mien Community Services in Sacramento.
The English language structure is also very different as compared to many Asian languages, he added, which heightens the challenge for those who moved to the U.S. at an older age.
Yaangh said the ruling could encourage more people to vote, as many don’t due to language barriers and a lack of ballot education. He noted that more forums could be held to register voters and educate the community about candidates, while calling the ruling an important step for the state’s Mien community.
“It acknowledges that our language and culture matters,” he said.
Rashid Ahmad, former president of the Council of American-Islamic Relations’ Sacramento Valley, is happy about the ruling as it will make the voting process easier, especially for elderly Pakistani immigrants who came from rural areas or smaller towns and do not speak English. He said materials that come before voting, including campaign fliers and candidate statements, have vital information.
“You can see candidates putting effort to campaign in the ethnic newspapers,” he added.
The ruling is confined to “Asian languages” due to the definitely of “language minority” under federal law, the AAAJ said.
“We’re thrilled that many limited-English speaking Asian American voters in California will receive translated voting assistance for the first time in 2020 under this ruling. That is voting assistance they are owed under the plain language of California state law,” said Jonathan Stein, staff attorney from the Asian Law Caucus. “We are disappointed, however, that the court did not agree with us that full language access is owed to all limited-English speaking communities in California.”
