Puerto Ricans praise Spanish-language ruling for Florida elections

“A victory for Spanish-speakers in Florida,” is how organizations that work for racial and voter justice in the Sunshine State described the agreement reached in a lawsuit to ensure that Puerto Ricans who speak Spanish can vote effectively.

The lawsuit Rivera v. Barton— listed as one of the most important lawsuits filed under Section 4 (e) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965— asked 32 Florida counties to provide information in Spanish and assistance to people who needed assistance in their native language. They argued that election officials had not complied with the Voting Rights Act when they failed to provide ballots and information in Spanish to Spanish-speaking voters who had recently moved to Florida from Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria aftermath on the island in 2017.

“It has been a long and tedious road and these elections in the midst of a pandemic were no exception, but we achieved it, we achieved justice for our Hispanic community,” said Kira Romero-Craft, lawyer and spokesperson for LatinoJustice.

Romero-Craft said she was satisfied with the outcome of the lawsuit filed in 2018 on behalf of Spanish-speaking Puerto Ricans living in 32 counties in the state of Florida where the county elections were held in English only. According to the lawsuit, due to lack of resources, “Puerto Rican voters who spoke Spanish were unable to effectively cast their vote, which is a violation of Section 4 (e).”

“We are very pleased with the settlement and it is in line with the Voting Rights Act,” Romero-Craft said.

The plaintiffs brought this case to a successful resolution by signing a settlement agreement with 31 of the 32 county supervisors of elections who, as stipulated, violated Section 4 (e) of the Voting Rights Act.

The settlement in the lawsuit - which is part of a nearly 50-year fight by LatinoJustice to obtain a bilingual voting system for the Latino community - secured additional voting assistance for Spanish-speaking people in 31 counties in Florida for the next decade. This includes electoral materials, hotlines, website options, assistance at the polls, and posters in the offices of election supervisors “all in Spanish,” Romero-Craft explained.

Charlotte County was the only one, of the 32 counties named in the lawsuit, that chose not to be part of the settlement.

Romero-Craft stressed that this means that they may be subject to more litigation in the event that “an election comes and they do not have content in Spanish and help for those who need it.”

The counties that settled the lawsuit are Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Hernando, Highlands, Indian River, Jackson, Lake, Leon, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Pasco, Putnam, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Sumter, Taylor, and Wakulla.

The lawyer assured that “most, if not, all election supervisors were taking steps to achieve compliance [with resources in Spanish” after in 2019, a federal judge issued a preliminary court order requiring the 32 counties that will take steps to provide ballots and assistance in Spanish in time for the March 2020 presidential primary election.

“The difference now is that this is confirmed and official by the court that these counties, where we know that there are a greater number of Puerto Ricans and Hispanics who speak only Spanish, have access to the same rights to vote,” said Romero-Craft.

The struggle to make these resources accessible in Spanish began after Marta Rivera Madera, 73, tried to vote and was unable to understand the content in English. “I had to find my daughter who speaks English and return to vote,” explained the Puerto Rican who stressed that exercising her right to vote is very important for her.

“I am a very independent person,” she said in an interview with El Sentinel Orlando. “I wanted to vote and I understand that it is important that we all vote and make use of our right to choose a president,” she stated.

After learning about the situation LatinoJustice, along with other entities such as Faith in Florida, Hispanic Federation, Mi Familia Vota Education Fund, Unidos US, and Vamos 4 PR began the process of seeking access to resources in Spanish for “anyone who wants to vote, regardless of whether or not he speaks English, “Romero-Craft said.

Rivera Madera, arrived to Gainesville, Alachua County, in 2017 after “losing everything in Hurricane Maria. She wanted to be close to my daughter, “she recalled.

Although she appreciates all the help that her daughter provides, she assures that being able to vote is something she likes to do on her own, but in 2018, when she went to vote for her, all the electoral material of it was in English.

“It was confusing and no one spoke Spanish,” Rivera Madera said in an interview with El Sentinel Orlando. “I didn’t know who to vote for,” she explained, because I didn’t understand.

It is estimated that there are more than one million Puerto Ricans in Florida, of which 859,000 were eligible to vote in 2018.

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States and Puerto Ricans are United States citizens whom, as soon as they relocate to the continental United States, can register to vote in state and general elections. Although some Puerto Ricans know English, many do not speak it; the main language on the island is Spanish.

“It is not the same to read in their language and understand well the decisions you are making. And this is not for me alone, because I am already old, this is for many young people and future generations,“ Rivera Madera said smiling.

“Marta Rivera’s story is that of so many Americans who face barriers to the most fundamental means of civic participation: casting a vote. By ensuring that voters with limited English proficiency can access ballots, mail-in ballot applications and other materials in Spanish, today’s agreement is a further positive step in the pursuit of a just, inclusive, and multiracial democracy, " said Stuart Naifeh, a senior attorney at Demos.

The agreement will provide additional assistance for Spanish-speaking voters in these counties beyond what is required by new state rules. Under the agreement, the 31 supervisors will provide the following language access services in their counties for the next 10 years:

Official ballots in Spanish.

Materials and assistance for polling places in Spanish.

Vote-by-mail ballots and vote-by-mail application forms in Spanish.

Confidentiality envelopes in Spanish (including voter certificates) and instructions with all Spanish language vote-by-mail ballots.

Spanish translation of the official website of the supervisor.

A county-specific hotline to assist Spanish-speaking voters during voting periods.

Signs in Spanish at the supervisor’s main offices and branches to inform voters of the availability of material in Spanish

Election materials in Spanish and the hotline in Spanish.