Stepping Up for Bilingual Voters

It wasn’t the best job offer Letty Alvarez had ever heard: Low pay. Long hours. And a 30-mile commute from her Oxnard home to a Moorpark polling place.

But when elections officials put out an urgent call to the Ventura County government workforce for bilingual poll workers, the Public Health Department employee eagerly answered.

“I want people to feel comfortable going to vote,” Alvarez said. “And I think they will be more likely to vote if there is a friendly face there to offer encouragement.”

Of the 1,300 poll workers set to oversee Tuesday’s election in Ventura County, nearly 150 will come from the ranks of county government under a new program to drum up volunteers -- especially those who speak Spanish.

The program was created in response to a complaint lodged this year with the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that the county’s elections division violated the voting rights of Spanish speakers by failing to provide enough bilingual poll workers and voting materials.

The county was among a handful nationwide targeted by the Justice Department’s civil rights division for noncompliance with the Voting Rights Act. The division has reached agreements in seven cases involving voters who speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Navajo and other languages.

Ventura County officials settled the civil complaint in August, agreeing to compile for this election the county’s first Spanish-language ballot. The county has 21,000 of them available for Tuesday’s election, about twice the number of people who have requested them.

It cost between $200,000 and $250,000 to comply with the additional requirements, officials said.

Election officials also launched a campaign last month to recruit bilingual poll workers from the county’s workforce, offering the day off with pay plus the poll worker stipend of $60 to $90 for any employee who volunteered to manage the balloting on election day.

Most of the nearly 150 employees who have offered to help are bilingual. Overall, the elections division has about 300 bilingual poll workers in place for Tuesday’s election.

“It was an opportunity for county employees to lend a hand, and we had a tremendous response,” said Gene Browning, the county’s assistant registrar of voters.

Behavioral Health Department intern Elizabeth Taylor jumped at the chance to help out after learning about the recruitment campaign while airing a public service announcement on Spanish-language radio.

Taylor, who is working toward her license as a marriage and family therapist, is host to a weekly community service segment on KMLA-FM (103.7) in Oxnard.

After making an announcement about the push to find bilingual election workers, the eight-year county employee decided to step forward herself.

“I am an immigrant and I think this is an opportunity to demonstrate to this country my gratitude,” said Taylor, who will help staff a polling place at an Oxnard elementary school. “Doing this work makes me feel very proud.”

Martin Hernandez, an administrative assistant for Supervisor Kathy Long, is among a number of county employees who have previously volunteered to supervise a polling station.

But like others, he was forced to take a vacation day when he served as a poll worker during last year’s recall election. This time, he’ll draw his regular salary for working the polls, although his usual workday will turn into a marathon: poll workers arrive at 6 a.m. and leave at 9 p.m.

“I think there’s a need for bilingual public services in every area, not just at the polls,” Hernandez said. “It’s about treating people with dignity and respect.”

There was plenty of that kind of talk Tuesday at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, where elections officials held a training session for poll workers. It was one of about 30 sessions put on by the elections division in recent weeks. Letty Alvarez sat with about 50 others, learning how to run an election.

“I just want to say ‘thank you’ to all of you. You don’t know how much you mean to us,” Ventura County Clerk Philip J. Schmit told the group. “Without you, we couldn’t have elections. And without elections, your voice is no good.”