SACROMENTO – The majority of California voters support increasing access to translated votes for limited English speakers.
The findings come from a poll released Monday by the UC Berkeley Government Institute. It conducts surveys in five languages: English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese, with over a quarter of its residents gaining voter sentiment in foreign-born states.
A poll conducted for the nonprofit Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund found that around 70% of registered voters in California agreed that voters who are eligible to speak limited English should be offered a vote translated into their preferred language. Support was strong among all ages, races, ethnicities, as well as Democrats and independent voters. Republicans were closely divided.
“I think there will be a lot of debate and struggles across the country around how inclusive we are, the many debates about immigration, immigration rights and immigration inclusion,” said Eric Sickler, co-op at the Institute of Government. “It’s timely to think about the issue of including different groups. They are allowed to feel completely American and fully American in our political system.”
Schickler and others said that more than 3 million registered voters in California self-identify as limited English proficiency, according to the latest estimates. As of February, just under 23 million Californians had been voted.
Under state and federal law, California must provide bilingual voting assistance to Spanish speakers. The nine counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara must provide voting material in at least one language other than English or Spanish.
Translated sample voting and other support should also be made available in Spanish or other languages within the county or precinct that the state determines that at least 3% of voting-era residents are members of a monolingual minority and do not understand English sufficiently enough to vote without assistance.
A Berkeley survey found that 82% of Democrats support providing translated voting materials to English voters. Among Republicans, 45% offered translated votes, while 42% did not.
Polls show that most California voters supported a recent proposal made before the state legislature, which would have allowed all limited English-speaking communities that met the county’s minimum threshold, to receive a translated version of all voting materials.
The SB 266 law proposed by Sen. Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) was not passed by the Senate Budget Committee. A more ambitious bill to expand access to translated votes and document AB 884 passed Congress in 2024, but Gav. Rejected by Governor Gavin Newsom. The governor said the bill cost tens of millions of dollars not included in the budget while helping to expand voting access.
According to Rosalind Gold of National ASSN, the home of such diverse electorals is important to provide translated votes to California voters with limited English proficiency, and is known for their complex states and local voting measures. The Officer Education Fund was elected and appointed in Latino elections.
“Even people who are highly educated and born English speakers feel they are trying to decipher the meaning of voting measures and what is challenging,” Gold said.
It’s not enough to provide voters with translated sample votes and other election material, she said: the official vote itself, whether it should be provided in voter’s preferred language, for Californians who vote by mail or for those who vote at the polling station.
“It’s basically difficult to move between the vote you’re choosing and the one you intend to mark a sample vote or a fax vote in your native language,” Gold said. “When you can vote in person for a vote in a language that people are more familiar with, that tells the whole process.”
A Berkeley survey found that of English speakers who lacked access to translated election materials or were not sure if it was provided, 87% said they were more likely to vote in future elections if they received a vote in a preferred language. Similar numbers say that receiving these translated votes makes it easier to vote.
The poll looked at 6,474 registered voters across California between June 2 and 6.
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