ATLANTA—The Georgia Association of Elected Officials (GALEO) and LatinoJustice are pushing Hall and Gwinnett counties to provide bilingual voting materials for Spanish speaking people for the 2016 election cycle.
The organizations sent letters to both county governments, requesting that ballots also be offered in Spanish.
"Often times, ballots are complex and difficult to understand for native English speakers. Without Spanish language voting material Latino voters are not encouraged to participate in the electoral process at risk of being disenfranchised," the letter to Gwinnett reads.
Those "materials" the organizations are requesting include ballots, voter guides, bilingual poll workers and website information.
"Bilingual ballots simply seek to have more people come to the polls and participate in the voting process," said Martha Pardo, Associate Attorney, LatinoJustice in a press release.
"We'd certainly like them to fix this on the local level, but we are prepared to go to federal court to get these counties to follow the law."
The letter cites U.S. Census data indicating that more than a fourth of Hall County's population is Hispanic, along with 20% of Gwinnett's population; most of these voters, according to the release, do not speak English fluently.
Hall County Elections Director Charlotte Sosebee indicated there are avenues for Spanish language voters in their elections.
"Any voter who is disabled or cannot speak English can request assistance when voting. It is best that someone comes with them to assist them (because) there is no law that will allow a poll worker to assist a voter once the voting process has started," said Sosebee in an email.
"In 2006, Hall County participated in a pilot program where bi-lingual voting was provided on the DREs (electronic voting equipment). From that point, no ballots or literature provided by (Secretary of State Brian Kemp) have been in any other language than English."
Joe Sorenson, Communications Director for Gwinnett County, declined to comment on the letter.
GALEO has had an active presence in the city of Gainesville as well, in their opposition to the city's at-large voting system.
