Save Our State - Linking with Latinos

Once again, reporter Stephen Wall, "Latino Advocate" Gil Navarro, and Cal State San Bernardino ethnic studies professor Elsa Valdez spin the notion that race is an indication of language and ethnicity:

Quote:

Linking with Latinos

More Spanish-speaking voters sought

Stephen Wall, Staff Writer

03/06/2010

As San Bernardino County's Latino population increases, election officials are going to great lengths to reach out to Spanish-speaking voters.

All of the 788,000 registered voters in the county will be mailed sample ballots in English and Spanish in the weeks leading up to the June 8 primary.

On Election Day, the goal of the Registrar of Voters Office is to have at least one bilingual poll worker at each polling place.

Bilingual pamphlets, ballots, signs, outreach materials and publications are part of the effort to get bilingual voters to cast ballots. [Bilingual people speak English, no need to print material in Spanish for them]

"We really go above and beyond to provide almost all of our information in both languages," said Registrar Kari Verjil.

The Registrar's Office hasn't been going it alone in its quest to serve the needs of voters with limited English skills.

In 2005, a group of concerned citizens asked the Registrar's Office to form a bilingual advisory committee to increase outreach to Latino and Spanish-speaking voters.

The group was concerned that the county wasn't meeting the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act with regard to language-minority voters. It used a 2004 court case involving Ventura County as a model for what should be done in San Bernardino County.

The U.S. Justice Department filed a complaint stating that Ventura County failed to provide an adequate number of bilingual poll workers trained to assist Spanish-speaking voters. The county also did not translate written election materials and information into Spanish, the Justice Department said.

To avoid a lengthy and costly lawsuit, Ventura County agreed to translate all election-related materials into Spanish and ensure that ballots and election information were provided in English and Spanish.

Trained bilingual poll workers were hired and an advisory group was created to improve outreach to Spanish-speaking voters.

Local community leaders told the San Bernardino County Registrar's Office about the Ventura County case.

In response, the Registrar's Office took steps to increase the number of bilingual poll workers. The number exploded from 439 workers in 2004 to 1,600 in 2008. Bilingual poll workers are paid an extra $10.

"We feel it's important because we want to be able to serve all the voters of San Bernardino County," Verjil said. "Having bilingual workers makes the experience easier for all voters."

While they believe progress has been made, group members say the Registrar's Office should do more to increase voter registration and turnout among Latino and Spanish-speaking voters.

Gil Navarro, a leader of the group, cites the federal law recommending a "vigorous outreach program" to help citizens who don't speak English well.

Navarro said he wants the Registrar's Office to boost outreach by advertising in Spanish-language newspapers and TV and radio stations.

"We have a lot of potential voters that will become and already are citizens who prefer to receive communications in their native language," said Navarro, a member of the San Bernardino County board of education.

Verjil said she would like to advertise in Spanish but her office doesn't have the money for it.

The group also wants the Registrar's Office to increase the font size of the letters of polling place signs so they are the same size in English and Spanish.

Verjil said she will look into the request.

Tom Rivera, the associate dean of undergraduate studies at Cal State San Bernardino, said the Registrar's Office should work with community-based organizations, schools and churches to increase voter participation.

"We were hoping to develop an outreach plan to get the information out and provide education for our communities," said Rivera, another committee member. "It seems the plan is still in the hopper and we haven't been able to put it together."

Verjil said her office is planning to increase outreach by hosting several registration and get-out-the-vote drives at senior centers, community fairs and other events starting in April.

The outreach efforts are strictly nonpartisan and geared to all voters, she said.

Verjil said she expects her office will spend about $350,000 to mail sample ballots for the June primary. About 20percent of that cost - $70,000 - is for the Spanish-language part of the ballot, she said.

Occasionally, Verjil said, the Registrar's Office receives complaints about why election materials are printed in English and Spanish.

Verjil mails out a letter explaining that census data and federal law mandate bilingual election materials.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires the county to provide forms, notices and materials in Spanish because more than 5percent of its voting-age citizens speak Spanish as their native language and have limited English skills.

Latinos made up about 35percent of the county's voting-age population in the 2000 Census.

Not everyone agrees that voting information should be provided in more than one language.

"We think it's ridiculous," said K.C. McAlpin, executive director of Pro English, a Virginia-based nonprofit that aims to make English the official language of government operations in the United States.

"People are supposed to be able to speak English in order to naturalize. We think it's a very divisive step politically and extremely wasteful to have ballots in languages other than English."

Elsa Valdez, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino and a committee member, supports ballots in multiple languages as a way to boost political participation among Latinos and other minorities. [Note that the phrasing "Latinos and other minorities" rather than "American citizens", which includes "Latinos and other minorities" - race obsession by Valdez]

Verjil said the committee and the Registrar's Office want the same thing.

"We have a common goal," she said. "We want to see all voters participate in the political process."