Illinois county to offer ballots and election materials in Filipino
Above is an example of an election mailer with Filipino translation.
COOK COUNTY, Illinois — Cook County voters can request ballots in Filipino and Korean starting in the March 2020 primary, aside from other languages that have been available since previous elections, which are English, Spanish, Chinese and Hindi.
These two additional languages were added after the Cook County board members passed the Voting Opportunity and Translation Equity (VOTE) ordinance in October, 2019.
VOTE requires the county to provide ballots in languages that have more than 13,000 speakers. There could be more language offerings in future elections.
Because of the translation of ballots into Filipino, Cook County and Chicago will be looking for bilingual Filipino-English, Korean- English election judges to help those who will be using ballots in Filipino or Korean. (For more information, please contact [email protected])
Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle said that by passing VOTE, the county fulfills its goal of expanding language access to voters, which is part of its job.
“The core of our democracy demands that all residents have equal opportunity and access to exercise their right to vote, regardless of the language they speak, their physical ability, or their level of literacy,” said Preckwinkle.
“Cook County’s offering of Tagalog ballots is a recognition of the presence and importance of the Filipino community in the area, and access to voting is a fundamental right of U.S. citizenship,” said Ryan Villoria, board member of the Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment.
“I am so excited. This is a historic day for our community. The language barrier has been the biggest huddle to stop Korean Americans with limited English skills from casting their votes,” said Sik Son, president of Korean-American VOICE. “The Korean ballot will break the barrier and give the community a voice that has been silenced for a long time.”
“Around a third of all Asian Americans in Chicagoland are limited-English proficient and experience challenges with the voting process,” said Andy Kang, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago. “The VOTE Ordinance helps expand ballot access for many of these Asian American and immigrant voters.”
Impact on Chinese and South Asian communities
“I cannot emphasize enough how significant it is to be getting ballots and election materials translated into Tagalog and Korean,” said Theresa Mah, the first Asian American elected as an Illinois state representative. “My election in 2016 to represent a district, in which a quarter of the voting age population is Chinese American, would not have been possible without the introduction of Chinese language ballots and election materials after the 2000 census,” Mah concluded.
“Cook County and Chicago were the first places in the nation to provide Hindi ballots for South Asians limited English proficient voters,” said Ami Gandhi, Senior Counsel at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “My positive experiences advocating for language access to the polls has helped me reimagine what civic participation can look like in Chicago and Cook County, and since 2016 I have led statewide voter protection efforts for Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.”
