Vietnamese Voters Must Rush to Get Absentee Ballots

Due to delayed mailings of county election materials this season, up to 5,000 Vietnamese-speaking voters face a down-to-the-wire race to obtain absentee ballots this week.

Because of ill-timed printing and translation snafus, the County Registrar of Voters said Saturday that roughly 70,000 sample ballots, and attached absentee voter applications, were mailed late this month. The delay should have little impact on voters who plan to make their election picks at the polls on Nov. 7, but will complicate matters for those who planned to vote by absentee ballot.

The problem, according to officials and campaign workers, is that the deadline for submitting absentee ballot applications is Tuesday. The delays have narrowed that window of opportunity for roughly 40,000 Spanish- and Vietnamese-speaking voters.

In the most extreme cases, 4,000 to 5,000 Vietnamese-speaking voters may not receive their ballot translation and application until Monday, or even the day of or after the deadline. But County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said because of election law, no applications could be returned late.

In the 68th Assembly District, where Vietnamese-speaking voters make up a significant chunk of the electorate, campaign workers fear the delay will fuel confusion for first-time voters.

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According to the California secretary of state’s office, sample ballots are to be mailed to voters by Oct. 17. But on Saturday, Lever was finally mailing the last of the booklets.

In addition to the absentee ballot application, sample ballots contain statements from local candidates and arguments for and against ballot measures.

Despite many delays in foreign language voting materials, Lever said that more than 1.2 million of the mailings made the Oct. 17 deadline. Absentee ballots usually comprise 20% of ballots cast in an election, officials said. It was not clear if there would be sanctions against the county office.

Lever said the task of mailing the sample ballots this election season was a “horrendous” job. Among other complications, the late addition of a housing moratorium measure in San Clemente delayed the mailing of 30,000 sample ballots in that city, and an 11th-hour revelation that a printer could not complete a full order on time required the job to be sent to another contractor, Lever said. In addition to those problems, Lever said there were problems in translation for the Vietnamese language booklets and a proofreading error in others.

On Saturday, candidates in the 68th Assembly District were scrambling to contact Vietnamese-speaking voters who might want to file applications for absentee ballots. While one campaign was setting up booths in Little Saigon, the other was mounting a telephone campaign of Vietnamese-speaking callers.

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Campaign workers for Assemblyman Ken Maddox, R-Garden Grove, and Democratic challenger Tina Laine said they believe that many first-time Vietnamese-speaking voters prefer absentee ballots so that the unfamiliar documents can be studied and filled out at home.

“It’s a big concern for our campaign,” said Maddox’s campaign manager, Matt Petteruto.

Staff workers worried also that because the sample ballots contain the address of the polling place, late information could cause confusion even for those who plan to vote at the polls.

“We’re talking about a lot of first-time voters who may find English difficult,” said Carole Ettlin, campaign manager for Laine. “I don’t want their first time voting to be a difficult one. I’m worried that they might just get discouraged and not vote.”

Both campaigns said they would have applications on hand at their headquarters. Registered voters can also fax a letter to the registrar of voters stating they wish to obtain an absentee ballot, including their name, address and signature, at (714) 567-7556.