Posted on 03/20/2006 4:47:19 PM PST by mathprof
Led by U.S. Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y. and Steve King, R-Iowa, 56 members of the House of Representatives are urging House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., to oppose the renewal of the section of the Voting Rights Act that mandates foreign-language ballots.
The two Kings say that these ballots "divide our country, increase the risk of voter error and fraud, and burden local taxpayers."
Their letter correctly explains that foreign-language ballots encourage linguistic separatism - which would give us problems like Canada has with the French language - and "contradict the melting pot ideal that has made the United States the most successful multiethnic nation on earth."
Foreign-language ballots don't make civic sense. Only citizens can vote - at least legally. To become a naturalized U.S. citizen, the law requires that a person demonstrates "an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write and speak ... simple words and phrases ... in ordinary usage in the English language."
Foreign-speaking citizens have the same legal protection of their right to vote as have millions of English-speaking U.S. illiterates. They can request assistance in the polling place, or take a crib sheet or interpreter into the booth, or get an absentee ballot and obtain help translating it.
The use of ballots in multiple languages greatly increases the likelihood of errors because of difficulty in translations. In a 1993 election, New York City mistakenly printed Chinese language ballots with "no" in place of "yes," and in a 2000 election, six polling places in Queens reversed "Democratic" and "Republican."
Foreign-language ballots are an open invitation to fraud because the Voting Rights Act requires foreign-language election information, notices, forms, instructions, and assistance in addition to ballots. This, plus the widespread availability of voter pamphlets and absentee ballot applications, gives unscrupulous party operatives countless ways to deceive voters about issues and candidates, and increases the likelihood that non-citizens will vote illegally.
Foreign-language ballots are a direct attack on our "civic unity," which the late Barbara Jordan said must be promoted by public policies that override the problems posed by our cultural and religious diversity. She added, "Such policies should help people learn to speak, read, and write English effectively." The right to vote should function as a motivation to immigrants to learn English.
The 56 Congressmen are also correct that foreign-language ballots are a burden on local taxpayers. Remember how the Republican Congress elected in 1994 promised to rid us of unfunded mandates?
Foreign-language ballots are a good place to start because they function like a tax Congress imposes on state and local taxpayers in the 466 local jurisdictions across 31 states that must provide foreign-language ballots.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that Los Angeles County taxpayers spent $1.1 million to provide ballots and election materials in five languages in 1996, escalating to $3.3 million in seven languages in March 2002. In several counties, the cost of foreign-language ballots is more than half the entire election expense.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which is coming up for reauthorization next year, was an important civil rights law because it eliminated barriers that historically had kept many black citizens from voting. Blacks didn't and don't need foreign-language ballots but, during the law's reauthorization in 1975, it was hijacked by those who wanted to pander to foreign-speaking minorities.
The choice of minorities is very discriminatory. The foreign-language mandate was limited to Americans of "Spanish Heritage," Asian Americans, American Indians, and Alaskan Natives, while Italian, German, French and other languages are excluded from the law.
Before each election, the U.S. Department of Justice issues regulations that require states and counties to provide foreign-language ballots if more than 5 percent or more than 10,000 citizens of voting-age belong to one of the favored language groups.
The number and the complexity of languages makes the mandate for foreign-language ballots completely impractical. For example, there might be enough Filipinos to meet the threshold for foreign-language ballots, but the Filipinos themselves might speak any one of mutually unintelligible languages.
The self-proclaimed National Commission on the Voting Rights Act (a private group), which includes such partisan activists as Bill Lann Lee, John H. Buchanan, and Harvard Professor Charles Ogletree, slyly admits that it doesn't want Congress to make the foreign-language section permanent because it would be vulnerable to constitutional challenge as "race conscious." These partisans just want to continue the fiction that this section is "temporary."
The foreign-language sections of the Voting Rights Act should be allowed to expire in 2007. This will be a major step toward more honest elections and the achievement of our national motto, e pluribus unum, out of many, one.
Que?
You select Sp/Eng at the very beginning, and the ballot comes up in that language. The only thing involved will be programming, not printing.
You mean, like the fiction that a moratorium on legal immigration would be "temporary"? No thanks. I'd rather that the foreign-language sections of the Voting Rights Act NOT be allowed to expire in 2007. I think the President and his brother Jeb would agree with me. If anyone lives in King's district, please vote him out this November.
English as the official language of the United States, as a cause, has seen its zenith. We have passed a point of no return in the Balkanization of the US with too many unassimilatible immigrants (with divided loyalties at best), and little interest in preserving English, already here.
How else can our illegal "Diverse One's" vote?
Vivo aqui en nueva jersey y quiero votar en espanol, soy illegal y es possible votar en newark y jersey city porque las democrats ya tiene identificacion puedo usar para votar!
I agree completely. There are no compelling reasons for continuing this multicultural farce. The sooner it ends, the better. Become an American, speak and read english. That's our language. If you want to participate in our political process, that's how you do it. If you don't want to learn english, then return to your home country. We don't need you here.
WELL, we need to do something about that!!
¿Qué usted piensa en esto, mi amigo? Los americanos del norte desean robar nuestros votos.
Not sure about NJ State law, but illegal cannot vote in federal elections, regardless of the language on the ballot.
GOD forbid we try to control our own immigration policy. You obviously would never give us the right to do so.
Where should we send the keys to the government, in Clawrence3's world? Mexico City? The Untied Nations? France?
If you dislike our immigration policy so much, why stay? There are plenty of countries that are more open to suit your tastes than us, no?
>>Remember how the Republican Congress elected in 1994 promised to rid us of unfunded mandates?<<
So what? We knew at the time that it was just another empty promise.
You mean 5 will get you 50. The castrated bunch we have now are sickening.
Don't kid yourself , Illegals are voting in the millions , in most barrios the poll workers are hispanic , I'm sure they don't ask for id or accept forged docs without question ,
mexico plans the total takeover of American in less than 10 years and they are well on thier way
Translation = More Tequila NOW.
No.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.