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Pew – More voters will have access to non-English ballots in next election cycle

More voters will have access to non-English ballots in the next election cycle – by D’Vera CohnLeave, December 16, 2016.

“The federal government has long required election ballots in some U.S. jurisdictions to be printed in languages other than English, based on the number of voting-age citizens who live in those communities and have limited English skills and low education levels. New data from the Census Bureau show that 263 counties, cities and other jurisdictions in 29 states will now be subject to this requirement in future elections, a slight increase from five years ago…Of the jurisdictions on the new list, many are in Texas (89) and California (27), which also are the states with the largest numbers of immigrants. In eight states, only one jurisdiction must offer non-English ballots (sometimes in more than one language): Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia. Three states – California, Florida and Texas – also must provide Spanish translations of any elections material issued statewide. The new list adds language assistance requirements for at least 25 languages in 52 jurisdictions, some of which already had another language requirement in place. The list drops specific requirements in 40 others, though some of these retain other language requirements. All changes are effective immediately…”

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