Under changes to the federal Voting Rights Act that date to the mid-1970s, election materials must be made available in other languages under specified circumstances.
The law says that a “language minority” population must equal 5 percent of the voting-age citizens of a state or political subdivision, such as a county or city.
The law also says the requirement is triggered when more than 10,000 of those citizens do not speak or understand English well enough to take part in voting. The illiteracy rate among that minority population within the state, county or city also must exceed the national illiteracy rate.
And this is why,
Linn County will be the first in Oregon to print ballots in Spanish for voters who request them.
County Clerk Steve Druckenmiller said Wednesday that he would move ahead with Spanish-language ballots for the 2006 primary and general elections, although Linn County is under no federal or state requirements to do so.
According to the 2000 Census, Linn County’s Hispanic population was 4.4 percent, less than the 8 percent recorded in Oregon, 8.8 percent in Polk County and 17 percent in Marion County.
No speakee the English, no gettee the citizenship and no gettee the vote.