Seminole Hispanic voters need equal voting services
For three years now, the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections has failed the Hispanic community by not giving equal access to voting information in Spanish and has not given any indication he will make the changes needed before the Aug. 23 primary elections.
If Chris Anderson continues to ignore citizen requests to remove the language barriers created by his office, Spanish-speaking voters will once again face unnecessary obstacles when casting their ballots.
In 2016 Spanish was designated as a minority language in Seminole County. This means that the Supervisor of Elections (SOE) office must comply with the “Language Assistance for Voting” rule of the Voting Rights Act and provide Spanish-speaking voters with full access to voting information in their native language. Anderson is aware of these facts, yet chooses not to provide Spanish speakers full access to voting services.
All Anderson needs to do is make some simple changes: 1) Provide visible badges for bilingual workers that read “Hablo Español.” 2) Display polling place signs with Spanish wording as equally visible as English. 3) Offer clear Spanish translations on the Mail Ballot Request form. 4) Fully translate the Supervisor of Elections website into Spanish. 5) Move the Spanish option to the beginning of the automated phone answering system and offer the same service choices as for English. 6) Create two separate voter guides in English and Spanish to make the Spanish translation readable.
As of today, Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of the Seminole County voting bloc. That is more than 50,000 ballots.
While we wait for Seminole County to take the needs of Hispanic voters seriously, other counties in Central Florida have implemented their Spanish services to be in compliance with the Voting Rights Act. Additionally, the Lake County Supervisor of Elections provides its Spanish community equal access to voting information on their website and voter guide without being mandated by law.
To say that the proposed changes cannot be guaranteed for the August election is a reflection of poor leadership. If there is a will, there is a way. When he was first appointed to the office, Anderson wasted no time in plastering his name on polling place signs, pens, flags, office doors, street signs, hand sanitizer bottles, and even government-issued vehicles. All at taxpayers’ expense.
Unlike the $17 million new elections headquarters Anderson is advocating for, the services to Spanish-speakers would not make a dent in the SOE’s budget. (“Elections chief frustrated by Seminole’s slow progress on new headquarters,” May 11).
Local Hispanic leaders have given him recommendations and offered to donate their time and expertise to remove the language barriers that still burden Spanish voters.
The Seminole County commissioners have been notified of the voting services disparities, yet have chosen not to get involved. Consequently Anderson is free to disregard the urgency of this situation. What is the holdup?
As Seminole County gets into full election mode, Anderson will have a calendar full of political hobnobs that do not serve voters in any way, and he will once again fail the Hispanic community he swore to equally serve.
There is absolutely nothing preventing him from fulfilling his duties as an elected official. No more excuses, por favor.