Senate OKs Bill to Expand Voter Language Aid

In a move with major ramifications for Southern California, the Senate approved legislation Friday expanding the list of local governments that must provide ballots and voting materials in other languages to U.S. citizens who speak little or no English.

The measure, which would go into effect in time for the November election, was approved, 75 to 20, and sent to President Bush for his expected signature. An identical version was approved by the House two weeks ago.

The legislation extends the language assistance provided under the 1965 Voting Rights Act for another 15 years and makes important changes that could profoundly affect voting patterns in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.

It requires counties to supply versions of ballots and voter information for Latino, Asian-American, American Indian and Alaskan minority groups that number 10,000 or more, share a common language, speak little or no English and have a literacy rate below the national average.

Under the old law, which expired Thursday night, counties were required to provide ballots in other languages only when a non-English-speaking minority reached more than 5% of the voting population.

The legislation will have the biggest effect on Los Angeles County. According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, it will have to provide ballots in Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Filipino, in addition to Spanish, which already is mandated by state law.

Korean-Americans, however, will not be covered by the legislation because, while they number more than 10,000 in the Los Angeles area, their literacy rate is higher than the national average, according to the Census Bureau.

San Diego County will have to print ballots in Spanish, while Orange County will have to print them in Spanish and Vietnamese.

Melissa Warren, spokeswoman for Secretary of State March Fong Eu, said the state will not know precisely which counties are affected by the law until it receives official word from the Census Bureau. She said state officials who have reviewed population statistics believe the number of counties required to provide foreign language materials in California will increase from 10 to 20.

She said she did not expect the measure to cause major problems because most of the counties are already voluntarily providing multilingual materials.

In the case of Los Angeles County, she said officials began meeting some time ago with leaders in the five affected communities to work out a plan for the November election.

The ballot requirement also would be felt in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Honolulu.

Supporters said this more complicated benchmark would lower language barriers at the polls by increasing the number of counties across the country with non-English ballots, from 197 to 256. The Bush Administration had favored 20,000 voters for the threshold, but indicated it would accept the lower one.

Opponents of the legislation, led by Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.), argued that expanding voter assistance would reduce the incentives for minorities to integrate themselves into the American mainstream by learning English.

“I fear that what we’re doing is simply for a temporary, feel-good effect,” Simpson said. “We need to bring people into the mainstream of our society. Treating them specially, differently or separately does not further that goal.”

“This (bill) is America’s version of apartheid,” said Sen. Steve Symms (R-Ida.). “If you can keep a group of people from never speaking English, they will never progress up the ladder of opportunity . . . . Instead of being a melting pot, we are encouraging people to stay on the outside of our culture.”

Proponents, however, argued the bill does just the opposite, integrating minorities into the mainstream by bringing them into the electoral process.

“Those who oppose this legislation think it will lower the incentive for Americans to learn English. That is just plain wrong,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). “Bilingual elections do not promote separatism but instead help to integrate non-English-speaking minorities into our democracy.”

Times staff writer Virginia Ellis in Sacramento contributed to this story.