La Comisión de Ciudadanos para Elecciones Limpias≠ No way José, say some Arizona residents upset with the Citizens Clean Elections Commission’s mailing of a bilingual primary elections candidate guide.
The commission is receiving written complaints and phone calls from angry voters in regard to the guide, said CCEC voter education manager Michael Becker.
“With the climate that we have here in Arizona with the immigration issue, I’m not surprised,” said Mr. Becker, who estimates the office has received 25 to 30 calls on the matter.
Emotions heightened by the national immigration debate quite possibly have aroused anger toward not only illegal immigrants, but also Latino citizens, said Jim Haynes, president of the Behavior Research Center, a Valley polling firm.
“I think what we’re looking at now is people have gotten their dander up over the issue of illegal immigration and transferred that to people that are citizens and most comfortable speaking in Spanish,” he said.
Letters sent to the commission obtained by the Arizona Capitol Times reveal some gentle demands that voting materials printed in languages other than English not be mailed to certain homes, to angry accusations of taxpayer exploitation and unprintable insults against Mexico and its citizens.
Some excerpts:
“I am the child of a legal immigrant who followed all the rules and who filled out all the required documents, in English, and most importantly took her test for naturalized American citizenship in English even though her native language is Japanese. Why is the Hispanic population being given the red carpet treatment≠ …Let the Hispanics learn the official language of the United States earnestly and honorably like all the immigrants preceding them had to do.” — Sierra Vista
“This is America and not Mexico and our language is ENGLISH not Spanish…We resent making phone calls and having everything repeated in Spanish. We further resent having to press a number to have our calls in English. English is what Americans speak.” —Couple in Phoenix
“Pandering to non-English speaking voters does not help them assimilate into the American culture and learn to function as a free thinking citizen of this great country. On the contrary, it is a classic example of hindering their ability to function properly in American society and further continues the “dumbing down” of the American culture.” — Couple in Mesa
“Find enclosed the exact thing that is making citizens angry. If you want to live in this country speak the language — our language is English. Keep your culture but owe your allegiance to the U.S.A. This is a waste of my tax dollars.” — Kingman
“Please refrain from sending me any election material printed in any other language than English, as I would consider it disrespectful to me and my state and country.” — Mesa
“It’s time we get real and quit bending over for people who don’t qualify for full participation in the democratic process, which seems to be fading, I’m sorry to say. And don’t tell me they deserve to be included!” — Tucson
Mr. Becker said that citizens calling to complain about the bilingual guide cool down after a brief conversation that covers federal voting requirements established by the 1975 addition of minority provisions to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“I explain to them what the Voting Rights Act is; it’s a federal requirement,” Mr. Becker said. “I tell them to speak to their local congressman.”
He estimates the commission has received about 25 to 30 calls on the subject, mostly from men.
Department of Justice requirements
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, all election notices, information, and materials must be available in the languages of American Indians, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Spanish-heritage citizens if the language group within the jurisdiction has either: more than 10,000 people, more than 5 percent of all voting age citizens, residence on a reservation or if the group’s illiteracy rate is higher than the national average.
The provisions were added because Congress had found that language minorities have been “effectively excluded” from the democratic process, and that the denial of the right to vote to minorities is “ordinarily directly related” to higher illiteracy rates and unequal opportunities for education and, according to the department.
The Citizens Clean Elections Commission has offered voting materials in Spanish since the 2000 election cycle, said Mr. Becker, but in 2004 the commission ceased to print separate guides.
In 2003, the Arizona Department of Health Services counted Latinos as making up 25 percent of the state’s population. The year also marked the first time that Latinos surpassed whites in Arizona not only in birth rate, but in actual births, 39,000 to 38,000 respectively.
Some population projections estimate that Latinos will become the majority of Arizona’s population by 2025.