Should Fresno County allow Arabic-language voting information on the 2020 ballot?
Like past election seasons, Bayan Mamoun would like to vote in November.
Born in Michigan, Mamoun spent 35 years living in Saudi Arabia. There, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and mentored young women in the Middle East before returning to the United States in 2018.
Since then, Mamoun, 41, has lived in Fresno County. But despite being an American citizen and wanting to engage in voting, she said she’s never been able to understand American elections.
Throughout her life, she has mostly spoken Arabic, and her language is not reflected in voting materials or ballots. She said she doesn’t understand which candidates appeal to her because they rarely speak or share information in her language.
Speaking through a translator, Mamoun said the number of people she knows in Fresno County with similar barriers is “too many to count.”
With voting scheduled for Nov. 3, local advocates believe Arabic-speaking voters again may be locked out of accessing material that they can understand since Fresno County — and all but one California county — do not provide information in Arabic. Advocates say the state is failing to accommodate potential voters.
Fresno official says Arabic-language info won’t be on 2020 ballot
The Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters, Brandi Orth, and the state’s Secretary of State Alex Padilla are aware of the issue. Letters sent by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California outlined the need for Arabic language voting materials.
But in their response, both offices said nothing substantial could be done this year.
The California Secretary of State’s office said, however, it would encourage Arabic as a required language in Fresno County’s next determination in 2022. The office makes determinations each time a new governor is elected.
Currently, only San Diego County requires Arabic-language voting materials. But ACLU Northern California Voting Rights Attorney Christina Fletes-Romo said the state has the discretion to accommodate voters even this year if they choose to.
The joint letter from ACLU and CAIR requested the local elections office to provide translated signage for this year’s election and the future. Fletes-Romo said that would help Arabic speakers know there is some assistance from bilingual workers at the polling station.
“Secretary Padilla can make it happen, and Clerk Orth can make it happen,” Fletes-Romo said.
Organizers say a permanent solution is needed. But for now, CAIR has resorted to encouraging Arabic-speaking residents to apply for the temporary jobs as poll workers to assist Arabic-voters this year.
Orth also suggested that option in response to the letters from the organizations. She also said the organizations did not provide “information indicating significant and substantial need for formal Arabic language voting assistance in Fresno County.”
Orth responded in writing to the organizations but did not respond to requests for comment from The Bee about whether the county would provide any translation for Arabic services for the 2020 election.
Would a better 2020 Census count help?
Advocates say, however, the problem also may lie in wider issue with a lack of accurate count of Arabic-speaking populations in the census.
The state relies on census data to make determinations on which languages can be added to voting material. But getting Arabic-speaking populations to fill out the census has been tricky for similar reasons as getting them to vote, organizers say. The information is too unfamiliar to residents with limited English.
CAIR reached out to Arab residents as the census season progressed to help get them counted. Around 50,000 of them were reached in the Central Valley. Of those, 12,000 agreed to fill out the census. The convincing factor was having an Arabic-speaking representative tell the residents what the census was about, according to CAIR organizers.
Sukaina Hussain, outreach director for the local CAIR chapter, said she believes local Arab populations are “severely undercounted” in the census, and haven’t had proper voting material.
She said of the estimated 6-10,000 Arabic speakers in Fresno County, half of them are “limited-English proficient.” She said the consequence of a lack of voting material in Arabic is that the population doesn’t have a proper voice at the ballot.
“We are committed to a democracy that includes everyone,” Hussain said. “It’s really every facet of our daily lives that are impacted by these decisions.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the estimated number of Arabic speakers in Fresno County.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 8:47 AM.
