Judge puts English only on voter forms

[Dennis Baron]

 From the Des Moines Register:

April 4, 2008

Judge puts English only on voter forms

By WILLIAM PETROSKI and NIGEL DUARA
REGISTER STAFF WRITERs

A Polk County judge has ordered Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro  
to stop using languages other than English in the state's official  
voter registration forms (download the PDF).

District Judge Douglas Staskal ruled in favor of U.S. Rep. Steve  
King, an Iowa Republican who sued state officials last year,  
contending they were violating the state's English-language law. He  
brought the suit against Gov. Chet Culver, who previously served as  
secretary of state, and Mauro, contending they had placed illegal  
voting forms on the secretary of state's Web site.

The dispute began shortly before Election Day in 2006, when King  
demanded that Culver remove voting information in languages other  
than English from the Web site. The site offered information in  
Spanish, Laotian, Bosnian and Vietnamese.

Non-English voter forms were removed from the state's Web site late  
Thursday afternoon.

King, a former state senator, said the materials were illegal because  
under an English-language law authored by King and signed by  
Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack in 2002, all official government  
communications must be in English.

Culver had said the English-language law included a provision that  
allows for "any language usage required by or necessary to secure the  
rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States  
of America, or the Constitution of the state of Iowa."

Attorney General Tom Miller, a Democrat, then concluded Culver had  
authority to offer the forms in foreign languages.

Staskal, in a ruling dated March 31, wrote that a state  
administrative rule permitting the use of other languages on official  
voter registration forms "plainly conflicts" with the 2002 statute.  
He called the rule "an arbitrary act in violation of law" and  
declared it "void in its current form as an improper exercise of  
agency power."

Mauro, a Democrat, said Thursday he respected Staskal's ruling, but  
that he was "deeply disappointed."

"When we came into office here, we believed that the information out  
there was correct, and that we were providing a service to the  
public, making it more convenient to participate," Mauro said. "I  
have never seen anything wrong with participation."

Culver, a Democrat, told reporters Thursday he will allow Mauro and  
Miller to decide whether an appeal should be filed. "I think we'll  
have to let the judicial process work itself out here," Culver said.

Miller said he was analyzing Staskal's ruling and he would explore an  
appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court or consider other action consistent  
with the decision.

"Our view is that although the Iowa English Language Reaffirmation  
Act requires all official forms to be in English, it does not  
prohibit government officials from providing materials in other  
languages as well," Miller said. "We argued that position to the  
District Court. This principle can be particularly important in the  
area of voting rights of citizens."

King issued a statement praising Staskal's decision. "English is our  
official language. The English language unites us as a state and as a  
nation. ... I believe that, and I am thankful that our official  
English law has been upheld."

The ruling will have a chilling effect on voter registration for  
those whose first language isn't English, said Des Moines immigration  
attorney Lori Chesser.

"It definitely is creating a barrier for them to voting," Chesser  
said. "I don't know how big of an effect that will be, but I think  
that will fall predominantly on people with less financial means."

The ruling could be taken as a sign against Spanish-speakers'  
inclusion in every facet of government, said Jorge Espejel, the  
Mexican consul in Omaha.

"It's going to be affecting everything," Espejel said. "I think it's  
not a good decision for us. As you know, for the people who have  
become a U.S. citizen, it's better to know what they're signing in  
their own language. ... They are going to be afraid. It's not going  
to be easy for them."

Thom Bui said he's been teaching a voting class for older Vietnamese  
citizens in Des Moines. Part of the class includes his translation of  
voting forms from English to Vietnamese. The ruling basically  
nullifies those classes, said Bui, owner of Des Moines Asian &  
Latinos Foods, 1623 Sixth Ave.

"There's some older folks, they like to vote but the problem is they  
don't know the language," Bui said. "Reading, they don't even know  
sometimes. That's how we help them out."

Craig Halverson of Griswold, state director of the Iowa Minuteman  
Civil Defense Corps, which opposes illegal immigration, said he was  
elated by the judge's decision.

"Our country has been English language all along. ... When I went to  
Greece, I learned how to speak Greek. But I am here, so I speak  
English. This shows that we still have some judges who will represent  
the American people," Halverson said.

Reporter Jennifer Jacobs contributed to this article.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/ 
NEWS10/804040386#pluckcomments
-----




Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

read the Web of Language:
www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage




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