District Of Columbia To Feature Over 40 Languages At Vote Centers

The District of Columbia has announced in advance of the 2020 elections that voters at its Vote Centers “will have access to over 40 languages, including…language access kits (translated voting information), bilingual election workers, and multilanguage signs/posters.”

ProEnglish agrees with the late Dr. John Silber, the former President of Boston University, who stated during his 1996 testimony to Congress that bilingual ballots “impose an unacceptable cost by degrading the very concept of the citizen to that of someone lost in a country whose public discourse is incomprehensible to him.”

ProEnglish believes that there are 5 key reasons to oppose multilingual ballots and election materials: (1) there is no justification for multilingual ballots and election materials, such as the District of Columbia will be providing in more than 40 languages in 2020; (2) multilingual ballot and election material requirements are arbitrary and wasteful; (3) multilingual ballots and election materials are an unfunded mandate on local governments; (4) multilingual ballots and election materials increase the likelihood of errors and vote fraud; and (5) multilingual ballots and election materials are a very costly and growing burden.