Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

Mark Your Ballots Column for the week of August 4-10, 2002

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There has been much hoopla over the fact that some California counties must add certain languages to their voting ballots to help voters who don't read or speak English well. This is to fulfill the requirements set forth by the Voting Rights Act. The goal is for all Americans to be able to take part in elections. For example, some counties have a high Philippino population; therefore voting materials must be printed in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines. Some other counties are predominately Mexican, Vietnamese, or Chinese. They too must comply with translations that reflect the language spoken in their county.

Many feel we should not cater to those who claim to be American citizens but can't speak or understand the language. Still others maintain that most political decisions are locally based. Therefore those living in a particular community need to be able to read a voting ballot that has propositions that will affect their area. It's more than just figuring out which candidate to vote for. Then all we would have to do is "eeny, meeny, miney, mo" and put an "x" by a name. But we are dealing with tax and bond issues, too. Do we want the schools to get more money? Do we want to spend tax dollars to build a particular road? Ah, there is where we need some interpretation.

I really don't what all the fuss is about. I submit to you that these voter ballots are
already in a foreign language. Here's a little sample from November 2000 General Election Ballot.

Now I ask you, "What the heck does that mean?" You can't understand it in English so what difference does it make if it's in Chinese or Spanish. These laws are supposed to be for the common man but the average person can't understand them. Actually the above average person can't understand them either. You need a law degree to decode it. Then the ballot will tell you what a yes vote means and what a no vote means. (You can't understand that either). Then it will give you the pros and cons of the bill. The "pros" basically say the "cons" are lying and the "cons" say the "pros" are lying. So you come away from these ballots totally frustrated and confused. Therefore you use the same method you used to elect a candidate. "Eeny, meeny, miney, mo!" Well, at least you voted and that's more than what half the voting aged citizens do.

I know the Bible says, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no," (James 5:12) but it obviously hadn't come in contact with our voter ballots. I'm going to start practicing now to get ready for the next election. "Eeny, meeny, miney, mo!" Maybe I'll use a new method. "One potato, two potato, three potato, four." Or should I say, "uno patata, dos patata……"

©August 2002

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bdahlgren@wcgsouthbay.org.