Thread: County needs more bilingual poll workers

www.mywesttexas.com

10/11/2005
County needs more bilingual poll workers
Colin Guy
Midland Reporter-Telegram

By Colin Guy

Staff Writer

Since the Midland County Commissioners' Court decided to permit county employees who work as poll workers on election days a civic holiday, 20 county employees, over half of whom are bilingual, have indicated they will help out during November's constitutional election.


Sloan told the Court the number of bilingual poll workers has increased and there should be 18 bilingual election officials serving the 16 polling locations that will be open for the election Nov. 8. Sloan said she is comfortable with the number of bilingual poll workers who will be working the election in November, but the county is still in need of more bilingual workers for the primary elections in March of 2006 in order to satisfy guidelines set by the Department of Justice.


According to Sloan, federal guidelines recommend each polling station with 100 to 249 people with Spanish surnames registered should have at least one bilingual election official present. Polling stations with 250 to 499 registered voters with Spanish surnames should have at least two bilingual election officials present, and polling stations with 500 or more registered voters with Spanish surnames should have at least three bilingual poll workers present.


Sloan said she has been working diligently to recruit more bilingual workers, and she has sent out letters to more than 80 individuals and organizations in an attempt to recruit more bilingual workers. Sloan said poll workers must be registered Midland County voters, and today is the last day to register in order to vote in the November election.


Louisa Valencia, a former County Commissioner, told the Court she has not heard of any complaints about the number of bilingual election officials. However, County Attorney Russell Malm said it does not matter if anyone complains, the county must still try and satisfy federal guidelines in order to avoid a lawsuit like the one filed against Ector County by the Department of Justice earlier this year for failing to provide a sufficient number of bilingual poll workers. Two counties in California were also sued by the Department of Justice for the same reason, Sloan said.


"If we don't get our numbers up to what the Justice Department says we need, we will be in a situation like Ector County," Malm said.


Valencia said the Spanish-language television stations Univision and Telemundo have both agreed to run public service advertisements encouraging eligible bilingual residents to assist the county in meeting the Department of Justice's guidelines. Liz Zenteno, associate director of the Cogdell Learning Center at Midland College, told the Court local church groups might be able to help recruit more bilingual poll workers. She also said the Cogdell Learning Center recently completed a lecture center, and they would be willing to host a public forum there to discuss the situation. Midland County Republican Party Chair Sue Brannon said she has been contacting companies in Midland and requesting they give a paid day off to employees who are willing to work elections. She said the companies she has spoken with have been very cooperative.


"(They get) $6 an hour for being a clerk, if they get that pay in addition to their normal job's pay, it's a little extra money," Sloan said.


Malm said anyone who has any suggestions for recruiting more bilingual poll workers should contact Sloan. Sloan said she has considered starting an advisory committee to help develop new strategies for increasing the county's number of bilingual poll workers.


"If the primary comes and our numbers are still low, we'll talk to the Justice Department and explain what we've done," Malm said. "We can only hope that if our numbers don't get as high as we want, they'll see that there was an increase."


During its meeting Monday the Commisioners' Court also:

According to Sloan, federal guidelines recommend each polling station with 100 to 249 people with Spanish surnames registered should have at least one bilingual election official present. Polling stations with 250 to 499 registered voters with Spanish surnames should have at least two bilingual election officials present, and polling stations with 500 or more registered voters with Spanish surnames should have at least three bilingual poll workers present.

The key word here is "guidelines". But doesn't this sound racist? Who decides what a Spanish surname is? Is this done for all ethnic surnames? How does someone like Smith or Jones benefit from this?

This is costing extra taxpayer money. Hopefully the voting paraphernalia is all in English and if you haven't taken the time to learn English I guess you don't get to vote.

BULL when they become citizens they MUST speak some ENGLISH so wwhy do you need bi-linguaal poll workers...to help the illegals vote right?