Posted on 02/06/2006 9:12:46 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
(CNSNews.com) - Fifty-six members of the U.S. House on Friday urged House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), to fight the renewal of a provision in the Voting Rights Act that mandates multilingual ballots.
"We believe these ballot provisions encourage the linguistic division of our nation and contradict the 'Melting Pot' ideal that has made us the most successful multi-ethnic nation on earth," the 56 House members wrote. Only one of those signing the letter is a Democrat - Collin Peterson of Minnesota.
The letter refers to special provisions added to the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1975 that are set to expire in 2007. The original VRA was passed in 1965.
The multilingual ballot provision requires local jurisdictions to provide multi-language ballots when more than 5 percent of the voting-age population belongs to a language minority.
The letter to Sensenbrenner, circulated by Reps. Peter King of New York and Steve King of Iowa, both Republicans, argues that multilingual ballots "divide our country, increase the risk of voter error and fraud, and burden local taxpayers."
Providing multi-lingual ballots costs taxpayers "millions of dollars" each election, according to the letter. It states that in 1996, one county in California had to spend $30,000 on Spanish ballots when only one resident requested Spanish materials.
The letter also cites a November 2005 Los Angeles Times article that reported Los Angeles County had spent more than $2.1 million to provide interpreters and multi-language ballots for the 2004 election.
The representatives wrote that "federal law protects the right of all citizens to bring an interpreter into the voting booth with them if they have difficulty understanding a ballot written in English." That practice is "the right approach," according to the letter to Sensenbrenner.
A spokesman for the House Judiciary Committee, Terry Shawn, told Cybercast News Service that the office had received the letter and would "take it into consideration as we continue hearings into the re-authorization of the Voting Rights Act temporary provisions."
PING!
bump
Good grief! Next someone will be saying that just because a person isn't a citizen of the US,it's unfair to prevent them from voting-oh wait,the Rats already operate on that premise...
That's one way to keep the democrat vote down.
Next election, I want my ballot printed in Sundanese. (That's Sundanese, not Sudanese.)
I expect that next. Every group will want their own personal ballot in the language of their choice.
Ballots need to be in Spanish.
Otherwise those illegal immigrants won't know who the Dems are and then how is Hillary going to get a landslide?
The RATS won't allow anything like this to happen. Their main sources of votes are the dead and illegals!
Great.
Multilingual should not be an option. It would be just another step toward division and destruction.
Why should it matter what percentage of the "voting age population" speaks a non-English language. How about percentage of eligible voters?
I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to allowing multi-lingual ballots in those few parts of the country were citizens don't learn English as a first language (I believe the Amish speak English as a first language, but there may be some other similar communities that do not). On the other hand, there aren't a whole lot of such communities; even in most places with large non-English-speaking populations, there aren't a lot of non-English-speaking citizens. Further, I would suggest that with rare exceptions (tight-knit communities similar to the Amish) the failure of parents to teach a US-born child English should constitute prima facie evidence of child neglect.
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