Majority of American Voters say “We want ballots in English”

{jcomments off}Narrow minded politicians and their fringe group allies cannot ignore what independent polling affirms; English must be the official language of government, and more importantly our ballots must be written exclusively in English.

Rasmussen Reports just released a national survey that found a majority of likely voters agree that election ballots should be printed in English and not in multiple foreign languages.  According to this poll, 58% of those surveyed from across the political spectrum want ballots printed only in English.

Other recent polls by Rasmussen show 87% of American voters believe English should be the official language of the United States and 73% want immigrants to assimilate into American culture.  This is done most effectively by becoming literate in English.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Justice is soon expected to release their list of American cities that must now print election ballots in multiple foreign languages as a result of new census data.

Multilingual ballots are yet another in a long line of unfunded federal mandates placed upon local governments.  Small towns that are struggling as a result of the current economic crisis are being further burdened by a wasteful federal bureaucracy that is forcing their will upon voters.

Furthermore, multilingual ballots undermine the integrity of the elections process by increasing the likelihood of election errors and fraud.  A home-rule petition in Boston calls for Chinese ballots to be “translated” by the local Board of Election Commissioners to include Chinese characters that represent the phonetic equivalent of the syllables of an English name.  Opponents of the legislation argued that adding Chinese characters could cause confusion and the likelihood of voter errors to rise.  According to the Associated Press, Mitt Romney could be read as "Sticky Rice" or "Uncooked Rice" and Barack Obama could be read as "Oh Bus Horse."

For immigrants to have the opportunity to prosper and achieve the American Dream, they must speak English.  The federal government has a duty to acknowledge English as a unifying component that facilitates assimilation into our culture.  The Department of Justice must fulfill the will of the American people by requiring all election ballots be written in English and not in any foreign language.