Salem now required to provide ballots in Spanish

Jun. 9—SALEM — The city has been ordered by the U.S. Department of Justice to provide election ballots in Spanish, now that it has reached a certain population threshold.

This year's state elections — a primary in September, and the mid-term elections that'll follow in November — will be the first in Salem to require that the city offer election ballots in Spanish, according to City Clerk Ilene Simons.

"The director of the Census has determined that the city of Salem is subject to the bilingual election requirements of Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act ... with respect to persons of Hispanic heritage," wrote Bert Russ, a deputy chief at the DOJ, in a recent letter to the city.

The change is "based on Census data showing that there are a significant number of voting-age citizens with limited English proficiency within your jurisdiction, who require materials, information and assistance in their primary language to participate effectively in the political process," Russ wrote.

The change comes at a critical time, according to Simons. While the next election is a primary and would normally expect a low turnout, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll is making a run for lieutenant governor and recently picked up an endorsement from the state's Democratic Party. As a result, the two elections this year may bring high turnout as the city of Salem packs the polls to either back or oppose its mayor's quest for state office.

The change also arrives after years of conversations around City Hall on whether Salem should take the initiative to make the change on its own — something that ultimately never took place.

Efforts were discussed in 2016, for example, to send a "home-rule petition" seeking the change to Beacon Hill. That conversation played out amid allegations that Hispanic voters were facing intimidation at the polls, something that brought intense scrutiny to the clerk's office at the time under now retired Clerk Cheryl LaPointe.

Each time city councilors talked about providing Spanish ballots, it was regularly noted how close to 20% of the city's population identifies as Spanish speaking. Reaching 20% would've tripped the requirement; otherwise, the city would be prohibited from providing the ballots in languages other than English unless a home-rule petition greenlit the change.

It remains unclear specifically why the change is taking place in 2022, Simons explained, but many of the actions the office must now take have already been taken.

"Some of the stuff we already do — bilingual voter confirmation cards. The information we hang up at polling locations always had translations or bilingual workers at the polling locations," Simons said. "The only thing we had to do because it was a quick turnaround... thank God we hadn't sent our annual city Census for 2022 out yet. I had to pull that back and work with the company to get that set up bilingually."

There are other minor things now coming up that Simons said could easily be missed among the larger changes taking place.

"I pulled up some of my sandwich board signs we put out at the polling locations. We're working on which ones we need to make bilingual," Simons said, "like election parking."

Lucy Corchado, president of The Point Neighborhood Association and a board member with the Latino Leadership Coalition, said the news is "an exciting and affirming step to be all-inclusive, and I think that's what democracy is all about — allowing folks who are able to vote that access and eliminating any potential barriers to that."

Even further, Corchado said the issues of the past remain far, far in the past.

"Things have been improved," she said. "Ilene has been very proactive meeting with the necessary groups that have been lobbying and advocating for more transparency, more inclusiveness and what we were identifying as barriers at the time.

"She'll reach out to us when they're looking for interpreters, workers at the polls. She's done voting workshops with the Latino Leadership Coalition and Point Neighborhood Association," Corchado continued. "It's just been a major improvement, and that's what we were always looking for — not special treatment, but fair treatment."

But still, things could be better. With the recent loss of bilingual election employee Julio Mota to become constituent services director and Latino Affairs coordinator for the mayor's office, Simons is in need of another bilingual employee. The position is part-time at 19 hours a week, pays $17 an hour and is low on applicants, according to Simons.

"It's always good to have (bilingual) people in here. A lot of our customers only speak Spanish or are more comfortable speaking Spanish," Simons said. "I encourage people that want to be involved in the city — being a diverse and inclusive city — to come join the team."

Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.

Contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.