Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have helped people receive voting materials in their first language.
Voting advocates said the bill, if passed, would have dismantled language barriers that many communities face, expanding language requirements outlined by federal and state law.
Access to translated ballots has come a long way since the National Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. That law said there should be translations at the polls, but it only applied to Spanish, Asian, Native American and Native Alaskan languages.
California has since built on the national law to include more languages. In San Diego, voter materials come in 10 languages.
But for six of those languages, the translated voting materials aren't on the actual ballots. Instead, they are on reference ballots, also called facsimile ballots, and those aren’t enough, said Deanna Kitamura, voting rights managing attorney with the Asian Law Caucus.
“Across the board we heard that the facsimile ballots, that are translated reference ballots, they were better than nothing, but they were confusing, difficult to use,” she said.
The bill, co-authored by representatives Sabrina Cervantes (D-Corona) and Evan Low (D-Cupertino), would have fixed that, according to Rahmo Abdi, director of organizing and campaigns at the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA).
The bill aimed to replace the facsimile ballots with voteable ballots for languages required by the state. Abdi said that could have made a huge difference for the communities she works with.
“Instead of really comparing a facsimile ballot to the English ballot, or just using community members or their kids to go vote, this should be a fundamental right for everyone,” Abdi said.
But election officials expressed concerns, including the California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials.
“We'll likely double the amount of languages we would have to be able to provide,” Jesse Salinas, president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said. “And one of the true challenges that we would have is translation.”
Salinas said technology, vendors and funding couldn't meet the bill’s new requirements. For example, he said, they calculated that in Los Angeles it would cost more than $25 million.
Cynthia Paes, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, declined to comment on the bill but said even offering reference ballots takes a lot of work.
“There are 700 variations of that ballot that have to be supported on the ballot marking device by our vendor,” Paes said. “It also needs to be provided in an audio ballot format for those ballot marking devices. So at this point, with our budget and the time available and the technology we have and the languages that can be supported by our vendors, we follow the law of the state of California and the federal law.”
These additional costs are ultimately why Newsom chose to veto the bill.
“While I support the author's goal of expanding language access and resources in our elections, this bill would create new, ongoing general fund cost pressures in the tens of millions of dollars not included in the 2024 Budget Act,” he said in a statement.
Abdi and Kitamura said the decision leaves advocates disappointed but undeterred.
"The veto of AB 884 is a missed opportunity for justice, but we won’t give up,” Abdi said. “Our communities deserve to be seen and heard, and we will continue to work toward breaking down the barriers that prevent full participation in our democracy."
Advocates plan to regroup and strategize, with plans to reintroduce AB 884 or similar legislation next year.
