Spanish-speaking voters in York County now have access to bilingual ballots: settlement

Teresa Boeckel, York Daily Record

Voters who are fluent in Spanish will have access to bilingual sample ballots in all 161 precincts in York County, and signs will inform them of voting services that are available.

This is part of a settlement agreement between CASA, an organization that advocates for the rights of Latinos, immigrants and working class families, and the York County Board of Elections.

CASA filed a lawsuit against the board of elections in 2022, saying it is violating federal law by failing to provide ballots, materials and assistance to voters who are fluent in Spanish. The county conducts elections "almost entirely" in English, the organization said.

The parties reached an agreement over the summer.

“Thanks to the settlement in CASA v Wheeler, Spanish-speaking voters will have access to voting materials in their native language when they go to the polls tomorrow,” LatinoJustice Senior Counsel Fulvia Vargas-De Leon said in a news release on Monday. “Language barriers disenfranchise voters and weaken our democracy. It’s our duty to remove obstacles to voting and to fight voter suppression so that all eligible voters have effective access to the ballot, regardless of the language they speak.”

The county issued the following statement:

"The County is pleased to have resolved this matter by working with CASA to strengthen and extend many of the efforts the County was already making to assist Spanish-speaking voters. We recognize the importance of making our polls accessible to all of our voters and will continue to monitor our processes and ensure that we are addressing any voter access issues about which we become aware."

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Signs informing of assistance, ballots in Spanish

The 10-page settlement agreement outlines the steps the county will take to serve voters who are fluent in Spanish.

They include:

  • Making English-Spanish sample ballots available at all of the voting precincts in York County.

  • Making English-Spanish sample ballots available on the York County Elections & Voter Registration website for all 161 voting precincts.

  • Posting "Vota Aqui!" signs at all of the polling places.

  • Posting signs at the polling places informing that Spanish voting services are available. They will provide phone numbers and websites on how to seek assistance.

  • Programming ICX voting machines at all of the polling places to enable voting in Spanish and allowing voters to use the machine to cast a ballot in Spanish.

  • Providing English-Spanish paper ballots to all voters in 33 precincts in the county. The precincts are located in the City of York, Hanover borough, Penn Township, Springettsbury Township, West Manchester Township, Windsor Township.

How to report an issue with the voting process

CASA provided the following election protection hotlines available to voters:

  • ENGLISH/866-OUR-VOTE or 866-687-8683 (call or text). Election Day, November 7th: 6 am – 9 pm ET. November 08th - 10th: 10 am - 6 pm ET

  • SPANISH/ENGLISH 888-VE-Y-VOTA or 888-839-8682. M-F 8 am - 8 pm ET

  • ASIAN LANGUAGES/ENGLISH 888-API-VOTE or 888-274-8683. English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Urdu, Hindi, and Bengali. Voicemail return only.

  • ARABIC/ENGLISH 844-YALLA-US or 844-925-5287. Voicemail return only.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York County lawsuit settlement to help voters fluent in Spanish

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