Dozens attend Morrow city council meeting in support of member who wants ballots in other languages

Veronica Griffin
·2 min read
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A Morrow City Council member wants to get ballots printed in Vietnamese and Spanish for those who don’t speak English as their first language.

Another councilwoman called the proposal “un-American” and said the same of Councilwoman Van Tran who introduced it.

Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin was at a Morrow City Council meeting where the topic was not on the agenda, but more than three dozen people showed up in support of Tran anyway.

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Fired-up citizens used the general comments section to show off their signs. Some asked for an apology and others called for a resignation.

In the July 11 meeting, Tran talked about adding other languages to the ballots to help out voters. She says she felt attacked by Councilwoman Dorothy Dean’s response.

“You, as an immigrant American, you took an oath of citizenship that was read and given to you in English,” Dean said in the July 11 meeting.

Tran says recent census data showed nearly 33% of Morrow’s population is Asian with the majority being Vietnamese. It showed that 22% of the city is Hispanic or Latino.

“Voting rights are for everybody,” one meeting-goer said.

“Georgia is a battleground state,” another said.

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Many of those who spoke out during the meeting called for council members to work together and respect one another.

“I was amazed by the support,” Tran told Griffin.

Dean offered no additional comments than her original statement to Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne on Monday.

“I don’t discriminate. To me I don’t care where you came from, what your ethnicity is,” she said then.

A few people spoke with Griffin off camera and said they support Dean and don’t want other languages added to the ballot. They say translators are already made available to voters.

There is no word on if this will end up on a future agenda meeting.

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