Thursday, February 21, 2008
Non US languages on Voting ballots
One of the many issues brought up 'Voting Technology' is the fact some ballots are in languages other than English. I understand why Spanish should be an option because of the very high percentage of people that speak it (especially in the South West) but where does it stop? Should ballots be in all languages that citizens speak? The United States does not have a national language even if the vast majority of people speak English. I see both sides of the issue. On the one hand, all citizens should be able to participate in the election process, regardless of their language. America is a country founded by immigrants many of whom did not speak English originally. On the other hand, is it really economically feasible to accommodates every language? At what point should the government say, "too bad citizen, you need to learn English if you want to participate in the American elections?" Any thoughts?
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If people are in the United States for the ten years needed to become a citizen, they should take the time to learn the language enough to be able to vote in English. It is fine if they want to speak in their native language at home or even for something more complicated than voting, but to go into a voting booth and cast a vote, they should know enough to be able to do that with ease. If they care enough about the election to vote, they should care enough about the country to be willing to learn the language after at least ten years.
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