Despite a growing need, county doesn't provide ballots in Spanish

EVERETT — Nearly 4,200 Hispanic people in Snohomish County have English limited proficiency, according to state data.

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Under federal law, Snohomish County isn’t required to distribute ballots in any alternate language. The federal Voting Rights Act says a county must provide election materials in another language upon meeting two requirements. There must be more than 10,000 voting-age speakers of that language who have limited English proficiency, or they must make up over 5% of the population. Within the group of limited English proficiency speakers, over 1.31% must also be considered illiterate in English.

In Snohomish County, Hispanic people with limited English proficiency make up 0.7% of the voting-age population, falling short of the federal baseline. Of those, 7.6% are considered illiterate.

County Auditor Garth Fell estimated a voters’ pamphlet in an alternate language costs between $10,000 to $15,000 per election, making cost a setback in the process. Overall, elections typically cost about $1 million, depending on the turnout. Fell wants to expand election resources provided in Spanish and other languages. He said Snohomish County could see Spanish ballots in one or two years.

https://www.heraldnet.com/news/despite-a-growing-need-county-doesnt-provide-ballots-in-spanish/