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.
The language assistance,
required by the federal Voting Rights Act since 1975,
applies to places with Asian American, Latino, American Indian and Alaska Native populations that meet certain requirements. The Justice Department, which enforces the law,
says the assistance helps more people “be informed voters and participate effectively in our representative democracy.” During the last reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, in 2006, Congress
extended the language assistance provisions to 2032, and they were not affected by a
Supreme Court ruling in 2013 that invalidated other sections of the law.
So they're for people that have low education levels that can't speak, read, or write English, but they can make an intelligent choice on who to vote for? How can they be 'informed' voters if they don't speak, read, or write English when everything that would 'inform' you about candidates is primarily in English?
More voters will have access to non-English ballots in the next election cycle
