For Andrea Torres, 28, and her parents, a family outing to the polls in Hall County proved to be a frustrating experience.
Torres’ father, Alvaro, is a Salvadoran immigrant with limited English proficiency. He struggled to understand parts of his ballot, especially the four ballot questions Hall voters are asked to weigh in on this election. Andrea said there were no Spanish-speaking poll workers on hand to help, leaving her father confused and dejected. He doesn’t know what he wound up voting for.
”I’m frustrated. I felt discriminated against … We have to demand that we be given the opportunity [to understand our ballots] and that we be taken into account,” said Alvaro in Spanish.
A recent Georgia resident by way of Florida, he noted he felt more confident voting in Miami, where Spanish-language ballots are accessible.
The Torres’ experience underscores the challenges immigrant voters may face in Georgia, where just two counties statewide provide voting materials in languages other than English.
Earlier this year, a federal review found that Hall County, which is roughly 30% Hispanic, didn’t meet the demographical threshold needed to mandate Spanish-language ballots. It will be exempt from doing so for at least another five years.
Andrea says she would like Hall County to roll out bilingual ballots even if it’s not yet compelled to do so by the federal government.
”My dad, when we left the voting, got in the car, he said, he was disappointed. He said, basically, that it was probably the last time he was going to vote in Georgia, because he feels like his vote doesn’t matter and he’s not included,” she said. “You are failing to include a whole population due to a language barrier.”
Among the local jurisdictions that do provide non-English voting materials is DeKalb County, which in 2020 moved to voluntarily translate sample ballots and other information into Korean and Spanish.
But even there, Latino advocates say there is room for improvement.
During Election Day, Gigi Pedraza, executive director of the Latino Community Fund Georgia, was stationed as a nonpartisan poll monitor in Doraville, the only majority-Hispanic city in metro Atlanta. She said that at least two Latino voters at the Doraville Civic Center requested Spanish-language sample ballots and were told there were none on-hand. They are available online only.
”So, the ballots haven’t been printed and are not being displayed [at the precinct],” she said. “And if the reason to get the ballots translated is access, then we need to go all the way to ensure they provide access, which is to have them visible so that people see them. If you don’t have them, is it really access?”
About the Author
