Bilingual Ballots in Boston

A panel of judges has approved a settlement that requires the City of Boston to provide Chinese, Vietnamese, and Spanish language assistance to voters, including bilingual ballots and voter notices, and interpreters. The settlement also requires mandatory poll worker and interpreter trainings, creates mechanisms to complain about poll workers, establishes an advisory task force, and permits federal examiners to monitor the elections. This is the first time fully-translated Chinese language ballots have been mandated by a court order. The settlement also requires full implementation of the language assistance provisions of the Voting Rights Act for Spanish-speaking voters. It is also only the third case ever filed under the nondiscrimination provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act concerning Asian Americans. Asian American and Latino community-based organizations and individual voters sought to join the lawsuit as parties. Although the court denied their motion to intervene, the court did so “without prejudice” allowing them to return to the court in case of any backsliding on the agreement contained in the settlement. The court further explicitly noted that the settlement allows for the “meaningful consultation from relevant community groups.” AALDEF, Greater Boston Legal Services, and Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP represented the Asian American and Latino organizations and voters. source: Press Release from Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Oct. 19, 2005bh