Voting is a right of every citizen; although the Voting Right act came into existence in 1965, states are still working to place the systems efficiently to fulfill the goal of giving the ability to vote to everyone. The change has come, and interpreters are there to help with different tasks that are related to multilingual voting.

Why are Translated Ballots not enough to help people?

Translated ballots assist people in voting. However, the problem arises at a busy polling place during Election Day. People have many queries about their ballot, the way to mark it, and submission.

Primaries are more difficult because other cultures people cannot understand the concept and feel cheated if not allowed to vote on Democratic and Republican ballots. Therefore, the whole process of voting can be hard for many people rather than what’s written on the ballot.   

Campaigns and Interpreting

Knowing the candidates is extremely important before voting. It is essential for people to know the candidate’s position; before electing them, otherwise voting is meaningless. Interpreters are getting prominent roles in campaigns. Now sign language interpreters are an important part of the candidate’s rallies.   Interpreters have to face some challenges while working on these campaigns. For instance, there are certain jargon and phrases used in campaigns that may not be translated easily to other languages, as accuracy is the foremost requirement of interpretation. In the political realm, accuracy makes a huge difference and interpreters can influence the audience which ultimately decides who wins the election.

Registration of Voter

For choosing the candidate of choice, the foremost requirement is voter registration. Sign-up is hard for people who do not speak English. The problem arises when the state does not provide an interpreter for this task. Non-English speaking people may face difficulty relaying the information required on the form. People feel comfortable if someone is there to guide them during the process. Interpreters are not on staff usually at the place of registration, but they can be called when required.

Difficulty in Voting

Even people who have been voting for many years in the U.S. sometimes face trouble in knowing the voting procedure that needs to be followed. There are various types of voting machines making the procedure confusing for new voters. A paper ballot needs to be folded correctly to make the vote counted, there are signs indicated, but if the signs are of a different language, they are useless. In this scenario, interpreters are required to help people.

Other than the names of candidates, the ballot also has propositions, instructions, and other issues. Translated ballot makes the task easy; otherwise, interpreters are tasked to assist people in helping them to understand the text without being partial.

Are LSPs helpful?

Language Service providers must provide the right interpreter when and where they are required. LSPs can help in other ways like they can contact local polling places to know about the requirements of interpreters. They can reach voters to help them know their voting rights. Interpreters can make a civic contribution to multilingual voting.