City seeks election ballots translated into Arabic

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck is joining Dearborn in seeking to have all future election ballots be printed in Arabic as well as in the standard English.
But there could be a roadblock to that happening.
Dearborn’s plan to have ballots translated into Arabic is facing hurdles from Wayne County Clerk Cathy M. Garrett, who questioned whether the ballots would be read accurately by voting machines, and who cited the need for a “procedure and process” to be followed, as she recently told the Dearborn City Council.
Just what specific “procedure and process” Garrett is looking for was not explained.
Garrett also said that the county election commission must approve of the ballot translation plan.
The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 does not list Arabic as one of a handful of recognized languages spoken by minorities.
But, the Voting Rights Act specifies that, if a specific minority population of a city equals 10,000 residents, or at least 5 percent of the population, then this calls for communities to offer election material in that language.
Hamtramck’s Arabic population likely meets that threshold. Dearborn’s Arabic population is about 19 percent.
The issue gets even more tangled. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told Dearborn that it can go ahead with Arabic language ballots, a point that seemed to ruffle Garrett in her talk with the Dearborn City Council.
It’s not clear where the issue in Dearborn is heading.
The Review reached out to Garrett about her position on Hamtramck moving forward with Arabic language ballots, and her office replied, in an email:
“The Wayne County Clerk’s Office fully supports voting inclusion and stands ready to take the necessary steps that falls within our purview to achieve the goal of Arabic ballots.
“There are legalities and processes which need to be determined and shared with the Office of the Wayne County Clerk, which will pave the way for new ballot translation standards in the State of Michigan. Ballots are too important of an issue to take lightly the proper steps that must be followed throughout the process.
“As the Wayne County Clerk, it continues to be my mission to work with the State Bureau of Elections and local clerks with integrity and respect for inclusive and fair access to ballots for all of Wayne County’s electorate.”
The Hamtramck City Council unanimously approved a resolution to go ahead with the ballot translation at last week’s council meeting despite the obstacle that Dearborn is facing, and in fact used the resolution wording from Dearborn.
Except for one thing: Hamtramck’s resolution specified the language to be translated would be Arabic. Dearborn’s resolution did not specify what language would be translated, something that Garrett took issue with.
Hamtramck is no stranger to offering ballots in another language. The city was ordered by the Department of Justice several years ago to have ballots also printed in Bengali, which is a minority language recognized by the federal government.
Garrett was unaware of that Hamtramck was offering ballots printed in Bengali when the Dearborn City Council referenced Hamtramck as a model for printing ballots in an additional language. Garrett insisted that Hamtramck was doing that for election materials and sample ballots – not actual ballots.
City Manager Kathy Angerer told the Hamtramck City Council that she cannot promise when Arabic language ballots will be made available.
“It’s our intention,” Angerer said. “This will enable us to make it happen.”
Angerer also noted that there will be an additional cost for translations and an added printing cost for ballots.
So far, there is no time frame when ballots in the Arabic language will be made available.
Posted April 22, 2022