January 30, 2024
LAS VEGAS – Ahead of the presidential primary, Clark County officials released voter resources in Chinese (Mandarin as written). These translated materials include information on how to register to vote, vote by mail, vote in person, and the presidential primary, which the Asian Community Development Council (ACDC) played a crucial role in translating from English to Chinese. A sample ballot will also be provided, and all of these materials will be provided for the presidential primary, June primary, and November general election. In response, All Voting is Local Nevada and ACDC issued the following statements:
“We are thrilled that officials, especially Registrar Lorena Portillo and the Clark County Commission, have decided to step up and voluntarily provide these materials after they were informed of the large numbers of voters impacted,” said Mary Janet Ramos, senior campaign manager of All Voting is Local Nevada. “Our hope is that other counties follow suit, because dismantling language-related barriers to the ballot is crucial in empowering voters whose primary language isn’t English so they can confidently vote based on accurately translated information. Nevada’s diverse and growing populations deserve equitable access to election materials in their native languages so that we can build a democracy for us all.”
“We commend the outstanding work of the Clark County Elections Department for this display of commitment to the democratic process by translating election resources into Chinese,” said Vida Lin, President of the Asian Community Development Council (ACDC). “Voting is the foundation of our democracy and language should not be a barrier to anyone’s right to vote.”
Background:
In 2022, in partnership with several groups, All Voting Nevada and ACDC released “Ballots for All: Improving Language Access for Nevada Voters” in English and Spanish to highlight the need for translated ballots and voter education materials in the state. During this research, it was uncovered that due to the rules and regulations set in Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, Chinese American voters in Clark County missed the threshold for the county to be required to provide translated materials by fewer than 500 voters, leaving almost 10,000 Chinese-American voters without these resources.
In June of 2022, Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed AB 246, a pro-voter bill that would have increased language accessibility for elections held in the state.