1. Here are the prerequisites for filing for American citizenship. Note the underlined requirement:
2. Here is the list of who can vote in North Carolina elections. Note the underlined requirement:
3. Here’s an excerpt from the voter wallet card (PDF) distributed by Democracy North Carolina. Note the underlined portion:
What am I missing? If you can’t vote unless you’re a U.S. citizen, and you can’t be a U.S. citizen without being able to read, speak, and understand English, why do we need to waste scarce resources by printing ballots in more than one language, as many jurisdictions do, or providing interpreters to voters?
Why are we encouraging people who can’t speak English to vote in our elections, because that’s exactly what our policies do. And if they can’t speak English, then they, by definition, cannot be citizens. Again, why are we doing this? We’re doing it because of the changes made in 1975 to the Voting Rights Act, changes that were motivated by political correctness and not grounded in logic or common sense:
The language minorities singled out for protection under Section 203 of the Act were: American Indians, Asian Americans, Alaskan Natives, and citizens of Spanish Heritage. For the first time in our history, states and counties with substantial populations of these protected language minorities were required to provide ballot and election materials in languages other than English.
Although the bilingual ballot provisions like other parts of the VRA were originally intended to be temporary remedies, they renewed in 1982, 1992, and again in 2006 for another 25 years.
Interestingly, the Spanish language seems to be the only one for which we make allowances. Are there no Asian Americans or American Indians in North Carolina? Maybe there are, but they speak English well enough not to need assistance with a ballot. Which tells you a lot, too.
