Posted on 07/30/2002 11:23:30 PM PDT by weegee
The U.S. Department of Justice has ordered Harris County to begin providing Vietnamese-language ballots and voting material, starting in November.
Citing the county's growing Vietnamese population and requirements in the federal Voting Rights Act, the Justice Department ordered County Clerk Beverly Kaufman to print ballots in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Harris County is the only county in Texas with a large enough Vietnamese population to have triggered the Justice Department's order, and local Vietnamese leaders said the move will help encourage the community's political involvement.
"This is a big step forward for Houston's Vietnamese community, because this means we cannot keep quiet anymore," said Kim Nguyen, president of the Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinity. "We realize we need to be part of mainstream politics. This will help us encourage people to do that."
According to the 2000 Census, more than 55,000 people identifying themselves as Vietnamese live in Harris County, and the Justice Department says at least 10,000 of them are old enough to vote and are not proficient in English -- which triggers the legal requirement to add the language to voting materials.
Three California counties also were included in the Justice Department's order to provide Vietnamese voting material -- Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clara.
The Justice Department's order requires the counties to provide Vietnamese-language voting material only in areas with a high number of registered Vietnamese voters.
Cities and school districts holding elections within Harris County also fall under the Justice Department's order if they have any voters requiring the material.
Kaufman, who said her staff had been expecting the order, announced Tuesday that sample Vietnamese-language ballots would be provided to voters needing them for the Nov. 5 general election.
She also said she would meet with local Vietnamese leaders to identify voting precincts with the greatest need for translated material.
"We think it's important to show good faith on this as quickly as we can," Kaufman said.
The county clerk's office also will distribute voter education materials in Vietnamese, recruit Vietnamese poll workers and hire Vietnamese speakers to field Election Day phone calls, Kaufman said.
The office also will seek state approval to add Vietnamese to the county's new $25 million eSlate voting system, which uses lightweight computers to replace punch cards. Kaufman said state approval probably won't come in time for the November elections -- the first time eSlate will replace punch cards.
Local Vietnamese leaders said they hope the move will help boost voter turnout in their community.
Nguyen said her group estimates there are about 12,000 registered Vietnamese voters in Harris County, but that only about 3,000 of them voted in 2001. There are 1.9 million registered voters in the county.
Hai Nguyen, who also is a member of the Vietnamese Community of Houston and Vicinity, said the low turnout is because many Vietnamese don't feel they are a part of the American political process. Having ballots in their language will help, he said.
"They will now feel like they are part of the system, and they will see that people care for them and are taking care of their aspirations," Hai Nguyen said. "They will feel like this is their home."
Houston City Councilman Gordon Quan, who is of Chinese descent, agreed. He said as leaders in Houston's Asian community work to register more voters, the new voting material will eliminate one more barrier.
He also said more ballot languages may be added later as other Asian populations grow and he believes Kaufman's handling of the transition will be important.
"I think our community is so diverse that it only makes sense that communities like the Chinese community and the Indian community will follow suit in the near future," he said.
Dateline Feb 30,2009
Department of Unification and Re- Education
Washington, DC
This is an imediate release to all offical offices and departments of the government. {may it grow in power and prosper}
All offical forms, writs, and documents will contain the joint statement as listed below. Your government {may it grow in power and prosper} has decided for you that rather than any one person feel any lesser for not understanding or being able to write English will add the following statement to be as a memorial to the culture we the government your overseer {may it grow in power and prosper} hold in contempt.
Inglese nous non Notwendigkeit não estúpido English
For the illiterate Americans this says. "English, we don't need no stinking English."
I wrote it as satire but considering the second and third generation Americans were are having to translate everything from door signs to official documents to their spoken language I find it fitting for the occasion listed above. Where does it stop?
So while the rest of the county will be using electronic ballots, the vietnamese will not.Doesn't citizenship require English proficiency any more?
-Eric
A question I have been wondering about also.
This sort of madness is going on in the UK as well....except Urdu seems to be the invading language.
But fear not because they are all going to vote republican and the ballots won't cost us but a few million dollars anyway. [/sarcasm]
When does the next plane leave DFW for Scotland?
Is it sooner than the next flight from LAX to Perth, Australia? If so, book me a ticket.
A question I have been wondering about also.
Are you not aware that MANY hired substitutes to take the exams for them.
Amen! And please don't think I am being discriminatory...if a mexican immigrant can't speak English, he/she should ALSO get their butt kicked out of this country.
Another reason to be discouraged or to keep up the good fight.
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