When Angelenos voted in this year’s California primary, an important group was left out: speakers of Latin American Indigenous languages such as Zapotec and K’iche’, which are not among the 19 languages in which L.A. County provides voting materials. It’s a particularly concerning oversight in Los Angeles. Our city has the largest population of Native American and Indigenous peoples of any city in the United States — and their omission has serious implications for inclusion.
Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act requires that counties provide election materials in the language of a linguistic minority that isn’t proficient enough in English to vote without help. That group either has to be greater than 10,000 people or represent at least 5% of a county’s total population of eligible voters. California also requires tailored ballots, at a lower threshold than federal law does: Counties here have to translate the…
