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Letters and Memorandums Democracy & Voting Rights

Absentee Ballot Language Access Materials for Spanish-language Limited-English Proficiency Voters

Gwinnett County fails to comply with Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act for the Spanish-speaking population. Change needs to be made in order to assist Spanish-Speaking voters rather than burden them.

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Sonni Waknin Staff

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Overview:

Gwinnett County is obligated to comply with the Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. Therefore, there should be voting assistance for their large Spanish-speaking population and must conduct bilingual elections. However, they do not meet the requirements. Gwinnett County included a Google Translate function on their page that does not accurately represent the information. SInce the translation proves to be inaccurate, it fails to meet the Section 203 requirement. Additionally, it takes some navigating of the English-language webpage to locate the Spanish Google Translate, which does not make it easily available and identifiable. Gwinnett County also fails to provide Spanish language assistance at USPS offices. No USPS offices in Gwinnett County have Spanish-language assistance available on site and their forms are inEnglish. Since voters are directed to the USPS office to get the proper stamps for their absentee ballots, Gwinnett County should provide voters with pre-paid absentee ballot envelopes or provide Spanish assistance at USPS offices. This way they do not burden Spanish-speaking absentee voters from casting their ballot.