KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
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Groups want election leaders in Wyandotte County, Kansas, to voluntarily offer ballots and other election materials in Spanish.
Tuesday, the ACLU of Kansas, El Centro, Inc., Advocates for Immigrants’ Rights and Reconciliation, Equality Kansas and others presented a petition with more than 1,000 signatures asking the Wyandotte County Election Office and Kansas Secretary of State — who oversees elections — to provide materials translated in Spanish.
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“I consider myself fully proficient in English, and I still find myself looking at what words mean, talking to my friends about what they think this means, just to make sure,” admitted Karla Juarez, executive director of Advocates for Immigrants’ Rights and Reconciliation.
Her organization posts Spanish translations of voter information on its Facebook page.
Federal law requires certain election offices to offer ballots in other languages when:
- More than 5% of voting-age citizens in a jurisdiction are members of a single language minority group and do not “speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process."
- If the rate of those citizens who have not completed the fifth grade is higher than the national rate of voting-age citizens who have not completed the fifth grade.
Six counties in Kansas meet those requirements. However, Wyandotte County does not.
Secretary of State Scott Schwab said in a statement, “We believe in following federal laws and guidelines."
Federal law does not prohibit offices from voluntarily providing materials in another language.
Schwab did not provide a direct answer on why his office wouldn’t voluntarily offer Spanish language materials in Wyandotte County.
Mayor Tyrone Garner of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, will propose a resolution this year asking commissioners to formally request a conversation with Schwab about the situation.
“Then, we can start having real conversations with the secretary of state about how we provide better information that allows for improved access to those people who want to legally vote here in Wyandotte County,” Garner said.
The group gathering petitions believes failing to offer Spanish-language materials disenfranchises and intimidates voters.
Eduardo Orozco has lived in the United States for more than 60 years. He needs help reading the ballot in English when he votes and would prefer information in Spanish.
“It’s great because it would save me from standing in line for help. Yes, it would be better,” he said through a translator.
The Kansas Secretary of State's website does have a section in Spanish.
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