Transcript Voting Rights Act - Florida Department Of State

Florida Department of State
Kurt S. Browning
Secretary of State
Dr. Gisela Salas
Director, Division of Elections
Presented by: Maria Matthews, Assistant General Counsel
Office of General Counsel, Department of State
Telephone: 850-245-6536
June 23, 2011 (as revised post-conference)
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Language Minority Requirements
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
Adopted in 1965 (amended in 1970, 1975, 1982,
1992, and in 2006 extended to 2032) (Public Law
109-246)

Gave effect to 15th Amendment
 “No person shall be denied the right to vote on
account of race or color”

Created extraordinary enforcement remedies
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
At least two ways in which a jurisdiction may
be designated and required to provide bilingual or multi-lingual election
material/assistance
Section 4(f)(4) designation
Section 203 designation
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Jurisdiction MUST PROVIDE:
 Registration or voting notices, forms, instructions,
assistance in the language of the applicable minority
group (if there is written language)
 Other election materials or information (e.g., sample,
regular, absentee, provisional ballots, notices,
candidate qualifying forms, instructional forms in the
language of the applicable minority group)
 Bi-lingual election staff and poll worker(s) available
to communicate
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
Applicable to all elections within the
boundary of the designated/covered
jurisdiction
 primary, general, bond, referenda, municipal,
school district, special purpose district, etc.
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
More than 5% of the voting age citizens were
single language minority group on November 1,
1972

Registration and election materials were only
available in English on November 1, 1972, and
1973)

Less than 50% of the voting age citizens were
registered to vote or voted in the 1972
Presidential Election.
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 Collier County (Hispanic, American Indian-Mikasuki/Seminole])
 Hardee County (Hispanic)
 Hendry County (Hispanic; American Indian
[Mikasuki/Seminole, Muskogee])
 Hillsborough County (Hispanic)
 Monroe County (Hispanic)
Fixed historical group-Requires bi-lingual materials
and preclearance for voting/registration related
law
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Designated by Director of U.S. Census
Bureau

Based U.S. Census Survey
population/ethnic/literacy data using 1 of 4
formulas

Every 10 years

Designation in effect until threshold no
longer met
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
More than 5% of political subdivision’s voting age
citizens are members of single language minority
group and have limited-English proficiency, and

Illiteracy rate higher than national rate.
• Provide bi-lingual
information/assistance/material
• DOJ enforces continuous compliance
• No preclearance required of voting/registration
law
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
5% of state’s voting age citizens and

More than 5% of political subdivision’s voting age
citizens are each members of single language
minority group and have limited-English proficiency.
• Provide bi-lingual
information/assistance/material
• DOJ enforces continuous compliance
• No preclearance required of voting/registration
law
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
More than 10,000 of political subdivision’s voting
age citizens are members of single language
minority group and have limited-English
proficiency, and

Illiteracy rate exceeds national rate.
• Provide bi-lingual information/assistance/material
• DOJ enforces continuous compliance
• No preclearance required of voting/registration law
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
Political subdivision has within its borders all or
part of an Indian reservation with more than 5%
of American Indian or Alaska Native citizens as
members of single language minority and with
limited-English proficiency, and illiteracy rate
exceeds national rate.
• Provide bi-lingual information/assistance/material
• DOJ enforces continuous compliance
• No preclearance required of voting/registration
law
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
Limited-English proficiency is defined as
speaking or understanding English adequately
enough to participate in the electoral process.

Illiteracy is defined as failure to complete 5th
primary grade.

Indian reservation is defined as any area that is
an American Indian or Alaska Native area as
defined by the Census Bureau in the 1990
decennial census.
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
Broward County (Hispanic, Amer. Indian [Mikasuki/Seminole,
Muskogee])




Collier County* (Hispanic, Amer. Indian [Mikasuki/Seminole])
Glades County (Amer. Indian [Mikasuki/Seminole])
Hardee County *(Hispanic)
Hendry County*(Amer. Indian [Mikasuki/Seminole,
Muskogee])

Miami-Dade County (Amer. Indian [Mikasuki/Seminole
Hispanic)

Orange County (Hispanic)
* Also a covered jurisdiction under section 4(f)(4)
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
Osceola County: Consent order based on 2002 law
suit for alleged discriminatory practices against
limited-English proficient Hispanics. See ss. 2 & 208,
VRA

Volusia County: Consent order based on 2009
lawsuit. Volusia could not condition right to vote on
ability to read, write, understand or interpret only
English for Puerto-Rican born residents who were
educated in American Schools in PR where Spanish
was dominant language. See s. 2, VRA & 42 U.S.C. S.
1973b(e)1
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When will new designations be made?
Late summer/early fall 2011.

U.S. Census Bureau has not completed data
analysis of number of U.S. citizens for an ethnic
group within the voting age population or the
corresponding illiteracy rate for that group in a
jurisdiction.
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
How will it be made? U.S. Census Bureau
Director makes designations based on 2010
self-reported census survey data and
publishes designations in federal register.

Who will notify me? U.S. Department of
Justice/Civil Rights Division mails formal
notices and details compliance requirements.
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
What to do in the meantime? If you think you
might designated, start acting like one:
1. Review (if not already) early released
census data. Note that available data only
refers to voting age population by ethnic
group for entire state and for each county
(no breakout by citizenship status or
literacy). See interactive map at:
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/
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2.
Budget for possibility
3.
Reach out to currently covered Section 203
counties* for guidance (e.g., how did they
prepare for anticipated designation, for what did
they budget, what do they now have to do,
lessons learned, best practices, how to avoid DOJ
issues, etc.)
*Broward County
(Hispanic /American Indian), Glades
County (American Indian), Miami-Dade County
(Hispanic/American Indian), and Orange County (Hispanic)
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4.
Review U.S. DOJ’s online guides:
Language minority guidelines at:
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/28cfr/55/28cfr55.pdf
Plain language brochure on compliance at:
http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/sec_203/203_brochure.php
5.
Conduct outreach to minority language
community (social, fraternal and religious
organizations, senior citizen groups, labor groups,
educators, business leaders, etc.)
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6.
Be sure contracts for election services on your
behalf include requirement to abide by bi-lingual
requirement as if the service provider were you
7.
Make election information available to the same
extent and regularity in minority language as in
English
8.
Provide accurate translations (consult with
trained translators but allow input from
community members fluent in minority language
for commonly used terms)
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9.
Provide language assistance (recruit, hire or
assign election officials who are able to
understand, speak, and if applicable, read
and/or write fluently in minority language) at
office and at polls
10.
Designate a minority language coordinator
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 All election information, materials, and
assistance that is available in English must also
be available in the minority language.
 DOJ will retain enforcement oversight for
compliance with bi-lingual requirements of
Section 4(f)(4) and Section 203 counties, or
counties under consent orders for Section 2 VRA
violations.
 Only Section 4(f)(4) counties also require
preclearance
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