‘Language barriers’: Will Fresno County election ballots accommodate Arabic speakers?
Arabic speakers in Fresno County could soon have access to ballots and voting materials in their language, if California’s Secretary of State Shirley Weber acts promptly on a new resolution.
The Language Accessibility Advisory Committee — an 18-member advisory body for the Secretary of State’s Office — during its April 7 meeting passed a resolution asking Weber to cover the Arabic language needs in Fresno County and those of Somali speakers in San Diego County.
The official request and information on the creation of a sub-committee for communities to petition on language access will become public by the end of this week on the committee’s website, said Christina E. Fletes-Romo, voting rights attorney with the ACLU of Northern California.
“Then it’s really pretty much in the Secretary of State’s court,” she told The Bee. “These communities of voters — they care about their local communities. They want to have a say on issues that impact their everyday lives. They want to vote and they really need the resources to be able to do that.”
The move by the advisory committee, also known as LAAC, follows advocacy efforts over the past year by various organizations, such as the ACLU of Northern California and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), on the matter.
Two things can happen next.
Weber’s office can continue to wait until January 2022 to take action, Fletes-Romo said. Every four years, the Secretary of State’s Office is supposed to look at new census data to determine if there are communities of limited-English speakers that are large enough to be covered.
“Or the Secretary of State has the authority to say, ‘Today, we are going to cover Arabic for Fresno County,’” she said.
The latter would mean that if a gubernatorial recall election happens this year, Arabic-speaking voters in Fresno County would have access to voting resources in their language to be able to take part in the election, Fletes-Romo said.
“We hope that the Secretary of State will cover this language now,” she said.
Chris Miller, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, would only say the “office is currently reviewing the resolution with the recommendations.”
Arabic-speaking community in Fresno County
Inclusion of Arabic speakers in Fresno County in translated election materials is long overdue, Fletes-Romo said. There are an estimated 6,000 to 10,000 Arabic speakers in the county, and half of them are limited in English proficiency.
Fletes-Romo said she has learned from partner organizations that the Arabic-speaking community in Fresno County has been around for decades. There are Yemeni farmworkers, she said, who have been in the Central Valley since the 1940s.
“If they are not getting resources in the language that they need from their government, but other communities are, it’s making them feel like second-class citizens,” she said. “That’s one impact that not having resources in their language has on this community and other communities that are not covered.”
Sukaina Hussain, deputy executive director for CAIR Sacramento Valley/Central California, said her organization is glad to see the advisory committee supporting the advocacy efforts.
“As we await publication of the final resolution, we hope to see a concrete timeline of next steps,” she said in an email to The Bee. “This is a major victory for our communities as language barriers have prevented many immigrant communities from fully exercising their rights and making their voices heard.”
An expansion of language coverage, Hussain said, would help create a “more inclusive democracy which represents all of us.”
Amer W. Rashid, legislative and government affairs manager for CAIR California, said the advisory committee’s resolution is a “great step” toward a California that incorporates all Californians.
“Considering the long-historic presence of Arab Americans in the Central Valley, and the incredibly large and engaged Somali American Population in San Diego, it is well beyond time these Californians had equitable access to their democracy and elections,” he said in an email to The Bee.
The LAAC advisory committee also decided to establish a subcommittee to develop a process for community members to petition for their languages to be covered in elections. Advocates had also been pushing for a streamlined process to become available.
“I really hope that (Weber) will make language access a priority for her office, and really hear these communities that want to vote,” Fletes-Romo said.
This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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