House Members Look to Ban Bilingual Ballots

[Desertdog]

"This deals with the right to vote, and these people are United States citizens; they are not illegal immigrants,”

Did I miss something?? I am under the belief that to be a citizen you are to know English.

House Members Look to Ban Bilingual Ballots
http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/8/131810.shtml?s=ic

A group of Republicans in the House is seeking to abandon bilingual ballots and language assistance at the polls.

In what the Los Angeles Times calls "a reflection of how tensions over immigration are pervading other issues,” the Republicans are lobbying their colleagues to let the 1965 Voting Rights Act’s language-assistance provisions expire.

The GOP members say bilingual ballots and language assistance to voters undermine national unity, increase the risk of election fraud and put an undue burden on state and local governments. "We believe these ballot provisions encourage the linguistic division of our nation and contradict the ‘melting pot’ ideal that has made us the most successful multiethnic nation on Earth," the Republican members said in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee.

Fifty lawmakers signed the letter.

"You're supposed to know English," said Will Adams, a spokesman for Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who signed the letter. "If you're a citizen who's in this country and legal to vote, you should know English. So it doesn't seem necessary to have the ballot in so many languages."

The Senate and House will conduct committee hearings next week on reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a leader in the move to let the language-assistance provision expire, plans to submit his proposal as an amendment in the House Judiciary Committee.

"Analysts say the group's effort probably won't succeed, in part because of other Republicans' concerns that it could further offend Hispanic voters upset by the enforcement-only immigration legislation the House passed in December,” the Times reports.

Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis., is one of the Republicans who oppose the move.

"This deals with the right to vote, and these people are United States citizens; they are not illegal immigrants,” he said. "It seems to me these people should not be confused because they don't have the proper instruction about how to vote on ballots for the candidates of their choice."

But King and his group say bilingual ballots cause election errors, and allege that they can make it easier for illegal immigrants to vote fraudulently.

 

[Sindawe]

I am under the belief that to be a citizen you are to know English

You are, in part, correct. From the Feds own web site regarding Naturalization...

Language

Applicants for naturalization must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language. Applicants exempt from this requirement are those who on the date of filing:

have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 15 years or more and are over 55 years of age;

have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for periods totaling 20 years or more and are over 50 years of age; or

have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, where the impairment affects the applicant’s ability to learn English.

Source: http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/general.htm

Native born citizens should also be functional in reading and writing English. If they are not, well too freaking bad and the blame for such lies with the parents.

 

[El Barto]

I have never had any problems in the world speaking just english, except here in LA.

Thanks to the USN and my current job, I have been to many places in the world including the middle east and Sri Lanka. I have always been able to walk into any restaurant and order whatever I wanted and I have always been able to stop locals on the street and ask for directions and I can't think of a single time where I had trouble because I speak only English.*

The same can't be said here in LA. If it weren't for my wife translating and my patronage of "Asian" owned businesses, I wouldn't be able to survive. People ask why I just don't learn Spanish.




*You can't count the time where we tried to get a sausage pizza in a Muslim country or when my friend wanted nuts on his sundae and the waitress ended up calling for the manager at TGI Fridays.

 

[Gordon Fink]

Did I miss something??

Yes, you did. The United States does not have a national language.

~G. Fink

 

[Standing Wolf]

I wonder how many of the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers were written in French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Viet-Namese, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

 

[lamazza]

...or the language that our constitution was written in or the language that our congress, etc etc etc

 

[CAnnoneer]

The same can't be said here in LA. If it weren't for my wife translating and my patronage of "Asian" owned businesses, I wouldn't be able to survive. People ask why I just don't learn Spanish.

Exactly. They want to be Americans? Then they should learn English. Every other ethnicity and race did. Why are Hispanics considered special? Or "special"? Many thanks to leftists undermining the country for decades.

A business that conducts its business primarily in Spanish, loses my business.

 

[thumper723]

This is how I look at it.

[opinion] This is America. No one will force you to speak English. However, do not complain if you cannot vote/drive/function without speaking/reading/understanding it. Written or not, it IS the language of the land, and is how the nations' business is conducted. Also, is the language of the overwhelming majority of commerce in this land. [/opinion]

Proud grandson of Latvian and German LEGAL immigrants. Who became CITIZENS. Who HAD TO LEARN, SPEAK AND UNDERSTAND ENGLISH TO DO SO!