Iowa court rules 'official English' law means no more bilingual voting materials
Iowa court rules 'official English' law means no more bilingual voting materials
State officials have yet to make a decision on appeal, advocates concerned
By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline.org
An Iowa county judge ruled this month that the state's chief election official violated the state's "official English" law by providing election-related materials in Spanish, Laotian, Bosnian, and Vietnamese.
The ruling, issued from a Polk County judge, came as the result of a lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). If unchallenged or upheld, it would mean that Secretary of State Michael Mauro may no longer provide any voting materials in languages other than English.
"When we came into office here, we believed that the information out there was correct and that we were providing a service to the public, making it more convenient to participate," Mauro said in a statement. "I have never seen anything wrong with participation."
In 2002, then-Gov. Tom Vilsak (D) signed legislation into law requiring that all official government communications must be in English. Thirty states, including those with sizable populations of non-English speaking citizens, have English as their official language. So far, it is unclear what if any impact the Iowa ruling could have on the rest of the country.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, (D) who at the time was secretary of state, asked the state's attorney general if a provision in the law that said, "any language usage required by or necessary to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, or the Constitution of the state of Iowa," allowed him to continue providing materials in languages other than English.
Attorney General Tom Miller (D) determined that Culver could continue to provide the materials in languages other than English.
King and seven others, including U.S. English, filed suit in late 2006.
"This is a resounding legal victory for official English legislation and the majority of Iowans who backed the state's official English law," Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English, Inc. said in a statement. "The court has rejected the secretary of state's attempted end run around the legislative intent of the law and made it patently clear that the government has the right to control the message it sends to the public."
Rob Toonkel, director of communications for U.S. English, Inc., said the factor in the organization's decision to pursue litigation in Iowa is that the provision of voter registration materials in certain foreign languages is neither federally mandated nor consistent with the law passed by the Iowa legislature.
Advocacy groups disagree that a ruling such as this doesn't conflict with federal law.
"You can have these language laws, but they can't conflict with federal rights.we think the Iowa decision is wrong," said John Tresviña, president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "It deprives U.S. citizens.many of them taxpaying.from their right to understand the ballot."
According to Margaret Fung, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, there is a growing Asian population in Iowa (over 45,000 according to the 2006 Census America's Community Survey data).
"The state has traditionally welcomed immigrants and refugees from Asia and other parts of the world," Fung said. By providing Asian-language voter registration forms online, the Iowa rule has encouraged greater civic participation in a cost-effective manner."
Fung pointed out that many new citizens are not fully fluent in English but are well informed about politics and other issues.
Immediately following the ruling officials in the secretary of state's office removed a bilingual voter registration forms from the state's Web site.
At press-time, neither the secretary of state nor attorney general had indicated whether they would appeal the county judge's decision.
"We're just trying to get our hands around it and what our options are," said Frank Chiodo, deputy secretary of state. "Is this a legislative fix, or a court fix, or is this something that needs to be left alone and we move on. We're looking at everything."
Some conversations involve discussions about what impact the ruling will have on potential voters in Iowa.
Iowa recently became one of seven states offering election-day registration and, with a backlog in the citizenship application process at the Citizen and Immigration Services Department that might not be cleared up anytime soon, questions linger about what impact this decision could have on November 4.
Chiodo said that, should the ruling stand, voters in need of language assistance in filling out a registration form or with other voting materials nothing prevents a county from providing the voter with an interpreter or the voter from using one.
How the ruling will impact individual counties is unclear. According to Ken Kline, president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors and Cerro Gordo County auditor said the association has not taken a position and has far as he can recall, it hasn't even been discussed.
"Personally, I believe it's a very emotional and political issue," Kline said. "Our county did have the Spanish-language [voter registration] form on our Web site and as soon as I heard the ruling, I pulled it down."
Kline said that for his county - where to the best of his knowledge no one has ever requested materials in a foreign language - there don't seem to be strong feelings either way, but he does know that's the case in all counties.
Advocates are watching the situation closely and taking a wait-and-see approach to what sort of actions they may take in Iowa.
Tresviña said what sort of future action his organization would take hinges on whether or not the state chooses to appeal the decision. He noted the importance of Iowa as a swing state in the upcoming November elections and that many states have an increasing number of minority language voters.
Fung said her organization is in contact with Asian American groups in Iowa and has offered assistance doing voter education. She also said that they support further court action.
"If the Iowa Attorney General appeals from the district court's order, AALDEF would support the state's position regarding translated voter registration forms," Fung said. "Apparently, Congressman King refuses to accept the longstanding federal policy prohibiting 'literacy tests' for voters and ignores the success of the Voting Rights Act in increasing voter registration and turnout of minority voters. In the meantime, other states with "official English" laws should not be heartened by this ruling. It's simply bad public policy to disenfranchise eligible citizens who are seeking to exercise their constitutional right to vote."
State officials have yet to make a decision on appeal, advocates concerned
By M. Mindy Moretti
electionline.org
An Iowa county judge ruled this month that the state's chief election official violated the state's "official English" law by providing election-related materials in Spanish, Laotian, Bosnian, and Vietnamese.
The ruling, issued from a Polk County judge, came as the result of a lawsuit filed by U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). If unchallenged or upheld, it would mean that Secretary of State Michael Mauro may no longer provide any voting materials in languages other than English.
"When we came into office here, we believed that the information out there was correct and that we were providing a service to the public, making it more convenient to participate," Mauro said in a statement. "I have never seen anything wrong with participation."
In 2002, then-Gov. Tom Vilsak (D) signed legislation into law requiring that all official government communications must be in English. Thirty states, including those with sizable populations of non-English speaking citizens, have English as their official language. So far, it is unclear what if any impact the Iowa ruling could have on the rest of the country.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, (D) who at the time was secretary of state, asked the state's attorney general if a provision in the law that said, "any language usage required by or necessary to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, or the Constitution of the state of Iowa," allowed him to continue providing materials in languages other than English.
Attorney General Tom Miller (D) determined that Culver could continue to provide the materials in languages other than English.
King and seven others, including U.S. English, filed suit in late 2006.
"This is a resounding legal victory for official English legislation and the majority of Iowans who backed the state's official English law," Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English, Inc. said in a statement. "The court has rejected the secretary of state's attempted end run around the legislative intent of the law and made it patently clear that the government has the right to control the message it sends to the public."
Rob Toonkel, director of communications for U.S. English, Inc., said the factor in the organization's decision to pursue litigation in Iowa is that the provision of voter registration materials in certain foreign languages is neither federally mandated nor consistent with the law passed by the Iowa legislature.
Advocacy groups disagree that a ruling such as this doesn't conflict with federal law.
"You can have these language laws, but they can't conflict with federal rights.we think the Iowa decision is wrong," said John Tresviña, president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "It deprives U.S. citizens.many of them taxpaying.from their right to understand the ballot."
According to Margaret Fung, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, there is a growing Asian population in Iowa (over 45,000 according to the 2006 Census America's Community Survey data).
"The state has traditionally welcomed immigrants and refugees from Asia and other parts of the world," Fung said. By providing Asian-language voter registration forms online, the Iowa rule has encouraged greater civic participation in a cost-effective manner."
Fung pointed out that many new citizens are not fully fluent in English but are well informed about politics and other issues.
Immediately following the ruling officials in the secretary of state's office removed a bilingual voter registration forms from the state's Web site.
At press-time, neither the secretary of state nor attorney general had indicated whether they would appeal the county judge's decision.
"We're just trying to get our hands around it and what our options are," said Frank Chiodo, deputy secretary of state. "Is this a legislative fix, or a court fix, or is this something that needs to be left alone and we move on. We're looking at everything."
Some conversations involve discussions about what impact the ruling will have on potential voters in Iowa.
Iowa recently became one of seven states offering election-day registration and, with a backlog in the citizenship application process at the Citizen and Immigration Services Department that might not be cleared up anytime soon, questions linger about what impact this decision could have on November 4.
Chiodo said that, should the ruling stand, voters in need of language assistance in filling out a registration form or with other voting materials nothing prevents a county from providing the voter with an interpreter or the voter from using one.
How the ruling will impact individual counties is unclear. According to Ken Kline, president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors and Cerro Gordo County auditor said the association has not taken a position and has far as he can recall, it hasn't even been discussed.
"Personally, I believe it's a very emotional and political issue," Kline said. "Our county did have the Spanish-language [voter registration] form on our Web site and as soon as I heard the ruling, I pulled it down."
Kline said that for his county - where to the best of his knowledge no one has ever requested materials in a foreign language - there don't seem to be strong feelings either way, but he does know that's the case in all counties.
Advocates are watching the situation closely and taking a wait-and-see approach to what sort of actions they may take in Iowa.
Tresviña said what sort of future action his organization would take hinges on whether or not the state chooses to appeal the decision. He noted the importance of Iowa as a swing state in the upcoming November elections and that many states have an increasing number of minority language voters.
Fung said her organization is in contact with Asian American groups in Iowa and has offered assistance doing voter education. She also said that they support further court action.
"If the Iowa Attorney General appeals from the district court's order, AALDEF would support the state's position regarding translated voter registration forms," Fung said. "Apparently, Congressman King refuses to accept the longstanding federal policy prohibiting 'literacy tests' for voters and ignores the success of the Voting Rights Act in increasing voter registration and turnout of minority voters. In the meantime, other states with "official English" laws should not be heartened by this ruling. It's simply bad public policy to disenfranchise eligible citizens who are seeking to exercise their constitutional right to vote."
Comments