U.S. English Chairman Testifies at Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing

Bilingual ballot provisions of Voting Rights Act called into question

U.S. English, Inc. Chairman Mauro E. Mujica testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today urging Senators to consider striking Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act – the section that requires bilingual ballots.

“The law is at odds with legal tradition,” Mujica told the committee, “Under U.S. law, nearly all immigrants must demonstrate English language proficiency to be eligible for naturalization. If English is a necessary condition for citizenship, and citizenship is a necessary condition for legal voting, then the purpose of foreign language ballots must be questioned.”

The bilingual ballot provision is the most controversial part of the Voting Rights Act, which was originally enacted sans language stipulations in 1965. In 1975, Congress reauthorized the act to require certain jurisdictions to provide ballots in the native language or certain minorities who reached a given population threshold.

“When a person steps into a voting booth, he or she is exercising the highest civic duty,” Mujica added. “Yet at that very moment, government sends a signal that English is not really necessary to join our national political conversation. Ironically, this message will not be sent to the Spanish speaker in Burlington, Vermont or the Chinese speaker in Wichita, Kansas. It will be sent only to those who live in high enough language concentrations to trigger Section 203’s requirements. In short, it will be sent to the very immigrants who are likely to live in linguistic enclaves where an English-optional lifestyle is a real possibility."

The Senate is expected to take a hard look at Section 203 and its effects. During House consideration of the Voting Rights Act, more than 50 Representatives signed a letter authored by Rep. Steve King and Rep. Peter King asking that the bilingual ballot provisions be allowed to sunset.

“Though Section 203 may have originated with the best of intentions, we should make the decision that binds us for the next generation on the conditions of today, not the conditions of a generation ago,” Mujica concluded. “Today, Section 203 provides selective benefits at the cost of a Balkanizing message. That is why today, I respectfully urge this committee to craft a policy that more closely reflects legal and economic sense, and one which promotes what voting and being an American is all about.”

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.