All welcome: Advocates fight to ensure citizens not fluent in English have equal access to elections

News21

LAS VEGAS (AP) — As demographics shift, advocates from Las Vegas to Alaska are fighting to make voting accessible for citizens who speak different languages. Under a provision of the federal Voting Rights Act, some 24 million citizens are entitled to assistance that will allow them to vote in their primary language. Many argue the federal law doesn’t go far enough and some places barely miss the federal government’s threshold for language assistance. In such places, local groups are starting to step in to push for change including the Asian Community Development Council in the heart of Las Vegas’ Chinatown. Advocates there recently handed out details in Chinese about how to register and cast a ballot on Election Day.