Bilingual Ballots Are UnAmerican

Statement by U.S.ENGLISH Chairman and CEO Mauro E. Mujica

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Voting Rights Act of 1965 may provide many things - but it is a far cry from being a "safeguard" protecting the voting privileges of the growing number of U.S. citizens who speak limited English in the U.S. today.

This so-called safety net requires more than 335 jurisdictions in 30 states to provide ballots, signs, registration forms and informational brochures in a multitude of languages, to which the Department of Justice (DOJ) is now alerting local municipalities.

This plan will cost our nation some $27 million to implement - and for what? Under our Constitution, only American citizens can vote. According to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, applicants for citizenship must demonstrate "an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write and speak...simple words and phrases...in ordinary usage in the English language..."

As an immigrant from Chile, I believe this federal law will not guard or even help U.S. citizens who don't speak our common language, English. Rather, it will leave them blindly picking at straws since the majority of "campaigning" by politicians will be done in English. Moreover, multilingual ballots throw open the doors to coercion, fraud, and in the absence of illegality, mistakes. How do we know that the "translators" -- who in all likelihood have their own political biases -- will translate materials properly and fairly?

At a time when states are finding their coffers bare and their balances in the red, does it make sense to spend millions of dollars to assist a handful of people who have not fulfilled their requirements to their new nation?

Here is but one example: Upon hearing of the DOJ's order this week, the Denver Election Commission said that this change could add anywhere between $80,000 to $100,000 in addition to the $500,000 cost of a regular election to pay for translators at the polls, and for postage and printing costs for larger ballots.

The economical importance of English goes far beyond the voting booth. English is the language of international business and commerce, not to mention of the Internet and aviation. Most important, English is the common language of the United States - spoken in schools, business, shops and services from coast to coast. It is the language of success, of higher learning, higher wages, a higher standard of life for its speakers and its speakers' children.

For more than two centuries, our nation has built bridges between citizens and immigrants, unifying and integrating our many different groups into a cohesive unit. Chief among these links has been English, the language of the charter documents that created this great land we proudly call the United States of America. In order to ensure continued fair elections, we must stop tunneling under the river, and instead fortify the road to true freedom by ensuring all of our citizens know the English language.

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 2 million members.