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857477457 t1_it39kh8 wrote

There are only 7 distinct options here so the scale should simplify represent those instead of being a continuously gradient.

355

FarioLimo t1_it54bmv wrote

Why a gradient when you have discrete number of languages

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USAFacts_Official OP t1_it32ui8 wrote

Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act covers localities that meet two criteria:

  • More than 10,000 or over 5% of voting-age citizens in state, county or municipality must be “members of a single language minority group,” and have limited English proficiency. For example, Hispanics with limited English proficiency are 5.8% of California’s population. That means all elections in the state must include ballots and election information in Spanish, even if an individual county or city doesn’t meet that population threshold.
  • The language minority must have depressed literacy rates. Depressed literacy rates are based on whether the share of the language minority’s voting age citizens with a fifth-grade education is less than the national share.

These determinations are made with Census data for Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Asian race and ethnicity groups.

But this process excludes some communities with limited English skills. For example, immigrants from North Africa who primarily speak Arabic (and are marked white on the Census) or immigrants from Haiti who primarily speak Creole (marked African American on the Census) would not be covered under Section 203. The Census Bureau is actively researching the inclusion of “Middle Eastern or North African” as a separate racial response category, but the official Standards of Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity have not been revised since 1997.

Spanish is the most covered language under section 203. Three states and 194 other counties in the US require ballots to be provided in Spanish. The next most common languages provided throughout the US are Chinese, Vietnamese, Navajo, Choctaw, and Filipino. Twenty states and Washington, DC do not have any localities that are required to provide non-English voting materials.

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nsnyder t1_it3l6e2 wrote

Why doesn't Sioux make the cut in South Dakota? Seems to meet those criteria.

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ElJanitorFrank t1_it41y6s wrote

There are enough Sioux people in south Dakota that don't speak English? These ballots are to aid people with very limited English ability.

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HoAdanac t1_itdfmef wrote

It'd be a waste of money if they can read english

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qqtan36 t1_it4s1rw wrote

"Filipino" don't you mean tagalog?

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Norwester77 t1_it69ri9 wrote

Basically, yes. Filipino is a standardized language based primarily on the Manila dialect of Tagalog.

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randomthad69 t1_it641ib wrote

Tagalog is just one of of hundreds of the many languages spoken in the Philippines.

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Norwester77 t1_it6ap3y wrote

We’ve got communities with large numbers of Russian and Ukrainian speakers, but those aren’t covered under Section 203, nor are African languages like Amharic and Somali.

1

40for60 t1_it546f7 wrote

MN provides election information in 11 languages, plus sign language, without being told to do so. Also is the #1 voting state and has the #1 Congressional district MN3. 80% turnout state wide in 2020.

https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/

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Mayor__Defacto t1_it66awk wrote

This is a map about where governments are required tho, so it is different. I found it informative, since in some places I did not realize it was mandatory.

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dml997 t1_it4k3eh wrote

This title is just weird and confusing. US counties ... etc implies that you are showing the number of counties. I think a clearer title would be Number of non-English Languages Required Under VRA for each County. The relevant metric, number of languages, should be the first part of the description, and the qualifiers follow.

But I do like the plot, once I understood.

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itchy_008 t1_it39159 wrote

El Lay County's ballots come in: Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Spanish & Vietnamese

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Yarmouk t1_it5o3td wrote

Find it interesting the couple folks complaining about non-English ballots trying to make it an immigration thing, as if indigenous languages don’t exist. People have many perfectly valid reasons for desiring a non-English ballot, and trying to decry that as unamerican is hilarious and stupid

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marriedacarrot t1_it68cyj wrote

Anyone claiming cultural diversity is unamerican is a bona fide dummy.

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zeruch t1_it60yr1 wrote

They also wouldn't likely complain if it was counties in the upper midwest making Swedish or German ballots.

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Alyxra t1_it7wf2c wrote

Lol bullshit, Americans were notoriously anti-Irish, anti-Italian, anti-German, anti-anything:

Most German immigrants all Americanized their names when entering the country to avoid being ostracized

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zeruch t1_ithpw4v wrote

If we were still in the 1800s, sure. But now? Dollars to donuts, I doubt it.

"Most German immigrants all Americanized their names "
Re-read that. Besides being poorly written, it's also inaccurate. There were period where anglicization was more common, but rarely anywhere near "all". Frankly, it was in cases often for practicality (because Americans can't pronounce anything "weird" which is why for Portuguese, Martin (Mar-teen) became Martin (Mahr-tin), Silveira became Silver, and almost any other "ei" centered surname (Pereira, Ferreira, etc) got given a soft-E instead of a long-A sound. For German, the double-S letter (ß) was dealt away with wholesale, and pronunciations often stayed intact while spelling shifted for practicality (e.g. Bauer became Bower) but hardly hid anything from view.

Also, anglicizing of names is common in the US and England, but historically it was often forced rather than chosen (that doesn't change the anti-immigrant underpinning, but does change the method).

This topic is a lot more complex than you rebutted., and it's one I have a big pet interest in, but I suspect that's not the point you were trying to make (albeit very clumsily). My first sentence still stands. And as for "Americans were notoriously anti-Irish, anti-Italian, anti-German, anti-anything" you've just described almost every spot of humanity on the planet (really, find me a single society anywhere in history, anywhere on the planet that at one time or all didn't have or contrive a convenient "other" to lambaste). But what do I know, I'm just a misanthrope on the internet.

0

Alyxra t1_itim32k wrote

Very passive aggressive with a tint of superiority complex.

Ignored.

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zeruch t1_itioagf wrote

Nothing passive about it, and clearly you have your own projection to contend with.

Thanks for the passive-moribund admission you have nothing else to contribute.

​

Toodles.

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katycake t1_it6anez wrote

What's the point in a non English ballot when the politicians only speak English anyways? Are these people even aware of what they are voting for?

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Yarmouk t1_it6ykrk wrote

I have no idea why you think politicians “only speak English anyways”, but that’s a thing you made up so not really relevant here. As to your question of voter awareness, you’ve hit on the exact reason that ballots are translated, so that they can engage in voting in a language they’re most comfortable in, allowing them to make the informed decisions so vital to democracy

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souryellow310 t1_it7t8kb wrote

Many immigrant communities have local radio or TV stations in their native languages. There's also friends, family, social groups that discuss what they are voting for. In LA county, the supplemental material with the text of the ballot measures and candidate statements are translated into many languages. I have family members who can't read or write well in English but they are more informed of politics than most Americans.

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HoAdanac t1_itdgq0n wrote

How many native americans don't speak english? I always thought pretty much all of them did, especially these days. It'd be a waste of money to print ballots in languages that are superfluous to being able to understand the ballot itself.

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L00mis t1_it3eiul wrote

Some things I’ve learned my state does that are not normal, but should be:

  • Mail in ballots
  • Voter information packets
  • Voting rights and process guide
  • Options for voting in other languages
  • Ballot drop boxes (many and well-placed)
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Crack_Expert t1_it5ekp6 wrote

The US, as a nation of immigrants, purposefully never declared a language... so I'm kind of shocked its so few counties.

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plutopius t1_it5i4bz wrote

The distinction is "required." Most places do provide government forms in multiple languages. Amharic, Spanish, Korean, French and simplified Chinese are always options where I live but am grey on this map.

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Alyxra t1_it7wrqk wrote

Is it? Or did it become one rather recently historically and so laws and society haven’t adjusted?

People love to say this, but until a few decades ago the majority of the population were descendants of the English colonists.

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Crack_Expert t1_it7y3r7 wrote

White people are immigrants, too.

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Alyxra t1_it7z1j6 wrote

True, but I was not excluding based on race. Including white immigrants, the majority of the US population were descendants of the colonists until fairly recently.

Large demographic changes like that take a while for complex government systems to adapt to.

Especially considering most of the change is localized to particular areas.

0

Crack_Expert t1_it7ztpa wrote

Colonists are immigrants.

Just illegal ones.

Unless you're a native... youre from an immigrant family.

Thats my point.

Almost all us Americans.. are immigrants.

At least my take on it.

There were also plenty of Irish and Scots.

My family was all here by 1650 and its half Irish. (I've traced all my family back to what boat).

−1

Alyxra t1_it80xw7 wrote

By this logic all humans in America are immigrants including “natives” because they crossed over a land bridge from Asia thousands of years ago.

Humans did not evolve in the New World.

There is a difference between colonists and immigrants which is why they are not the same word.

In simple terms, colonists are people who move to an area that is not yet established and build a state. Immigrants are people who move to an already established area.

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Crack_Expert t1_it825nv wrote

Natives were the first humans in a place. Making them the "default" human.

I would agree they EMigrated.... but not that they IMmigrated. As they set the default.

Either way, only the first trip was all English.

There was a large Irish and Scot group in the US by 1650. (Large by ratio)

−1

JuventAussie t1_it65a72 wrote

Australia translates the how to vote information into over 30 languages.

https://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/Translated_information/index.htm

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I_said_booourns t1_it7q24e wrote

We also change prime minister's like a celiac beer taster changes undies. Don't remember voting for half of the arseholes put in power in the last decade mate.At least yanks kinda pretend to give citizens a vote,even if this is clearly racially fixing elections

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Physical_Bike_2443 t1_itdy4aq wrote

You have Croatian, but not German for some reason?

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JuventAussie t1_ite3z3u wrote

I suspect that it is driven by community need and I would imagine that most German speaking migration occured more than a generation ago and they would have less difficulty understanding English than more recent Croatian migrants that speak a language more different to English.

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USAFacts_Official OP t1_it32jlm wrote

Reposted with the legend included.

Source: Census Bureau

Tools: Datawrapper, Illustrator

More data on non-English ballots

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therossian t1_it6hozd wrote

The write up confused me. "The seven counties with the most languages covered under Section 203 are all in California." But Queens County, New York is listed as 5 languages when you click on it.

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addy_daddy_07 t1_it57hwn wrote

A country founded by and enhanced by immigrants. who’s main starters left the English power house of Britain don’t have voting documentation in other languages??!

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Blade_Shot24 t1_it68tod wrote

Assuming that's Cook for Chicago

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LupusDeusMagnus t1_it4qh54 wrote

In Brazil we use numbers, so it kinda bypasses that.

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silasness1 t1_it5lavl wrote

Just dataviz comment: why the continuous color scale for discrete numbers of languages? It's pretty though

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Picolete t1_it7dklf wrote

If they cant read the language, maybe they shouldn't vote

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moral_luck t1_it3m93d wrote

Luckily for King County, WA they are use to issuing material in about 8 different languages.

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Frenchitwist t1_it5gjir wrote

Do these mean completely separate language ballots, or ballots with 5 languages on them?

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marriedacarrot t1_it68mnq wrote

At my polling place in Alameda County, you select the separate ballot in your chosen language. Voting materials have all languages printed on the same materials.

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Norwester77 t1_it69ic2 wrote

Depends. King County, WA, produces separate ballots in Chinese and Vietnamese, but Adams, Franklin, and Yakima Counties produce a single bilingual ballot in English and Spanish.

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SirThatsCuba t1_it678ni wrote

Shimmies in multilingual. I think my latest one has four? Although according to this chart it has 1.

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cornernope t1_it6xbj4 wrote

My city in Wayne country michigan is half arab. It has been to at least some degree for like 40 years. I am a poll worker, and at least for my either county or the state, there is a very low threshold, like 3 percent foreign language speakers, in order to get an alternate ballot. Another city nearby recently got bengali ballots, but we never got Arabic ones. Apparently the us federal government never recognized Arabic as a language, so they never got us it. We have a new mayor now who is Lebanese himself, and within his first year in office we now have Arabic ballots.

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Zonel t1_it757u6 wrote

It's because Arabs are white on US census data.

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Sicon3 t1_it7kr4g wrote

Considering most voting is digital these days away (when done in person) the cost to translate the ballot into all standard computer languages is pretty darn low and should be the standard.

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astroneer01 t1_it7ob81 wrote

Wow let's go Arizona I guess. It's so weird how both progressive AND conservative my state is. Booming legal weed market, providing non-english ballots for people who need it, but also was one of those states that's been pretty insistent on the election being stolen

1

papekl t1_it7q37s wrote

Cc. R. C CD. Io. III. . i. N o I am ooh, i. I. I mm of It 😊 on i actually. Ok kwki Vzmu I x . O.bi Kbu. In b. Iun ca h ionoo.p.fdd

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Eire4ever t1_it7uuh8 wrote

Now overlay with US Territory map from 1845.

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Markqz t1_it8447c wrote

I see a lot of negativity, and I think people aren't understanding. The counties that are not offering ballots in other languages are the same ones where it has been determined that less than 5% of the voters speak some particular language. It is not that some counties arbitrarily choose not to create material in some language.

In the U.S., voting is usually administered by the county government. Ballots include federal, state, county, and city choices -- not just Federal choices. The counties have to foot the bill. Asking that every single county, no matter their population, print ballots in, say, the top 30 languages of the world would be unnecessarily expensive and not accomplish anything.

This is a map of Democracy in action -- not a map of oppression, as some redditors seem to believe.

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This-Bad-2189 t1_it8am1b wrote

Louisiana is exempt...they don't have counties, just parishes

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danathecount t1_it5hoc6 wrote

This is misleading for CT since we do not have County Governments.

0

CongestionCharge t1_it63bhy wrote

In addition, five states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin) have minor civil divisions that are required to provide non-English ballots.[2]

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I_said_booourns t1_it7oh4v wrote

Non American here.why is there not a blanket federal legislation to offer opinion to non English speakers?I assume a larger cross section of citizens would increase the chances of electing the appropriate governance? Even if it's a county election, it has a bearing on fed party confidence right? This seems skewed

0

Randomperson1362 t1_it7ty62 wrote

There is, if a significant percent of the population does not speak English as a foreign language.

The issue, especially with paper ballots, having any language ready go go just isn't feasible. One polling location could have many different precincts, each with its own ballot.

I think electronic machines should be programmed to support many languages, but if there is a paper ballot, and you don't speak English, getting an absentee ballot is probably easier. Then you can translate it at home.

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I_said_booourns t1_it7w3qj wrote

Like another poster mentioned, we have 30 languages standard and compulsory voting,so I'm still trying to get my head around the ebb & flow.Thanks for the concise reply randomperson. I know it sounded obtuse, but if you don't ask you don't know

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imGnarly t1_it7slzr wrote

I’m guessing there’s a bunch of people that don’t love the idea of non-English speakers that can vote 🙊

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imGnarly t1_it7sn1v wrote

I’m guessing there’s a bunch of people that don’t love the idea of non-English speakers that can vote 🙊

0

911memeslol t1_it33uur wrote

No way Illinois has anybody that doesn't speak English

New York? Fine

The latino belt? Obviously

Washington? Whatever

Illinois? No way

−31

ElJanitorFrank t1_it42acq wrote

It's okay to know nothing about Chicago but you don't need to advertise it.

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ketchupmaster987 t1_it5onde wrote

As a resident one of my fav things about the city is the mish mash of cultures and languages. Something about everyone being different in their own ways makes me feel safer to be different too.

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_not_so_cool_ t1_it3cdwn wrote

You know nothing of Illinois. In Chicagoland, pop. 8.9 million, 30% of the population speaks a language other than English at home.

P.S. 20% of the entire state speaks English as a second language

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911memeslol t1_it3cup0 wrote

I'm talking about not speaking English, not speaking English as a second language

−8

_not_so_cool_ t1_it3gc6v wrote

There are entire communities in Illinois that don’t rely on English on a daily basis. I’m talking about grocery stores, banks, utilities services, pet care, bars, restaurants, houses of worship etc that serve these communities in Spanish predominantly, but also Polish, Korean, Arabic, Chinese, Tagalog.

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Mayor__Defacto t1_it5ivep wrote

Chicago has a huge latino community, as well as Polish and German communities…

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henryswww t1_it502ax wrote

What in the actual #$%@ ??? PLEASE tell me this is a joke. If you can't speak English then you don't get to vote. If you're in this country illegally...you don't get to vote. If you voted for hillary...you don't get to vote again EVER.

−34

FightOnForUsc t1_it539gn wrote

I know you’re a troll. But someone could have moved here from any country, naturalized and become a citizen, and still read another language better than English. We want anyone who is going to vote to understand what they are voting for as best as possible. Doesn’t mean that they don’t speak English just because they want a ballot in a different language

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repeat4EMPHASIS t1_it60coq wrote

Even without immigrants, Puerto Ricans and Native Americans can still vote too.

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FightOnForUsc t1_it62jkd wrote

Well Puerto Rico isn’t on this map, but you make a point. I’m curious, do you know how many Native American languages do have ballots in their languages? I used my example because I think it’s easier to see someone not having great English in 7 years after a whole life somewhere else, whereas I think most all native Americans still speak English. I don’t know enough about the school system in Puerto Rico to know how widespread English is there or how big of a focus it is in school, but I imagine almost everyone there knows English as well, but of course they also know Spanish.

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repeat4EMPHASIS t1_it65i7g wrote

> I’m curious, do you know how many Native American languages do have ballots in their languages?

Unfortunately I don't have access to that data anymore, so I can't remember if it was just election materials that were translated in a few states in addition to the NMVRF, or the ballots themselves.

But anyway I think your example was great because a naturalized citizen could speak English every day but not read much in plenty of blue collar jobs. Or military service members who married foreign citizens and brought them back to the US (they wouldn't dare not support the troops and their wives, would they?)

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PM_ME_UR_SEAHORSE t1_it6jd75 wrote

Ballots are required by the VRA to be printed in Aleut, Apache, Choctaw, Coushatta, Ho-Chunk, Hopi, Inupiaq, Kickapoo, Navajo, Nez Perce, Paiute, Pueblo (unclear which?), Seminole, Shoshone, Ute, and Yup'ik in certain counties/boroughs, according to this report (page 35)

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Lost-Currency9670 t1_it3okvp wrote

If you can’t speak English you have no business voting

−38

KingfisherDays t1_it3saj3 wrote

Care to explain why?

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RD__III t1_it3ul9c wrote

I mean, you're required to "Be able to read, write, and speak basic English" to become a citizen per CIS. The vast majority of natural born citizens would also likely have at least a basic grasp of the language. The only real fringe case would be someone born in the USA, lived somewhere else for most of their life, then came back. but that's a fringe case.

I don't see anything wrong with supplying other languages, especially Spanish given our demographics and proximity to Latin America. But, if you're eligible to vote, you probably shouldn't *need* a non English one.

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PM_ME_UR_SEAHORSE t1_it6jls9 wrote

Native Americans have been citizens since 1924 and some don't speak English or don't speak it well, ballots need to be printed in sixteen Indigenous languages in counties shown on this map

3

Mayor__Defacto t1_it5ioni wrote

For one thing, the USA does not have an official language. Some communities have schools that don’t teach in english. Others have schools where you can opt-in to a full language immersion curriculum - for example, some places in Oregon where you could opt to have your children learn k-12 in Vietnamese.

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Lost-Currency9670 t1_it459a5 wrote

I can’t think of a single good reason to let someone who can’t speak English vote in this country, that’s totally absurd.

−30

KingfisherDays t1_it467cr wrote

What about the fact that there have been Spanish speaking communities in places like Texas, California, and Florida before there were English ones? What about people who speak English but whose understanding of what they are voting for would benefit by having it in their native language? What about native Americans?

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Lost-Currency9670 t1_it46pkw wrote

Reservations are already exempt from certain federal laws, so they could be an exception. However I doubt there are any more than a couple hundred people who are born in the US who can’t speak any English or have basic literacy who aren’t physically or mentally able to speak English. Russian was my first language and I speak both languages fluently and without an “accent” and I’m no savant.

−16

Longjumping-End-3017 t1_it48v79 wrote

>I can’t think of a single good reason to let someone who can’t speak English vote in this country, that’s totally absurd.

"People that can't speak English don't have the capacity to understand Elections and US events and therefore don't deserve representation in the country they live in"

That's what you sound like. This idea is so simple minded. You can't think of one good reason? You realize there are news providers in other languages so people that don't speak English can keep up on on American events and politics right?

You realize the language one speaks has zero correlation to intelligence levels and decision-making ability right?

"nO EnGlIsH nO vOtE" 🤡🤡🤡🤡

What a dense take.

11

Lost-Currency9670 t1_it495vx wrote

Listen buddy I don’t even think women should be allowed to vote so go cry to somebody else

−10

johndburger t1_it51oiw wrote

Thanks for making it easy to discount every opinion you express.

10

Mushroom_Tip t1_it5myly wrote

Lol. It sounds like you're the one here crying salty incel tears not them.

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moose2332 t1_it4ngwg wrote

Aw poor baby can't feel like a big boy when woman are near him. Look out behind you someone has salsa in their fridge.

5

potatoisabean t1_it3udvm wrote

If you can't even speak the language (the bare minimum) you shouldn't be able to vote

Healthy immigration should be promoted (neither closed nor open borders)

−17

the_mellojoe t1_it41md1 wrote

officially, there is no "the language" and every time it came up for a vote, people voted it down. so which language should people speak? Any of the native indigenous languages? German? Spanish? English? Old Norse? Italian? or any of the languages brought from the countries in Africa?

15

[deleted] t1_it42q5d wrote

[deleted]

−22

Longjumping-End-3017 t1_it45jwg wrote

While English, is the most common language spoken in the US, there is no official "main" languages in the US.

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johndburger t1_it520dc wrote

What’s the “main language” in Switzerland? How about China?

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FreshestEve t1_it468fr wrote

Nah they are correct. The USA do not seem to have an official language at the federal level. Some countries do have multiple languages at the federal level and not one "main" language e.g Switzerland.

7