In this Feb. 26, 2020 file photo, using both the English and Spanish language, a sign points potential voters to an official polling location during early voting in Dallas. Getting enough people to staff polling places amid the coronavirus pandemic is a challenge in many states. The virus’ disproportionate impact on Latinos has made the task of recruiting Spanish-speakers even more difficult.
LM Otero / AP Photo
LM Otero / AP Photo
In this Feb. 26, 2020 file photo, using both the English and Spanish language, a sign points potential voters to an official polling location during early voting in Dallas. Getting enough people to staff polling places amid the coronavirus pandemic is a challenge in many states. The virus’ disproportionate impact on Latinos has made the task of recruiting Spanish-speakers even more difficult.
Weeks before the 2022 general election, a Latino rights grassroots organization sued York County’s Board of Elections for allegedly not providing legally required resources for Spanish-speaking voters.
This month, ahead of the November 2023 election, the county has reached a settlement with the group, CASA, by agreeing to commit more resources to assist Spanish-speaking voters throughout the year.
The county and CASA reached an agreement after “numerous conference calls” and two in-person settlement conferences presided over by Martin Carlson, magistrate judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
“The county is pleased to have resolved this matter by working with CASA to strengthen and extend many of the efforts the County was already making to assist Spanish-speaking voters. We will continue to monitor our processes and ensure that we are addressing any voter access issues about which we become aware,” Gregory Monskie, county spokesman, said in a written statement.
York County committed to training its employees on the availability and use of its Spanish language line and other translation services on Election Day and other times of the year. Judges of elections, poll workers, and York County Elections Department Staff will also learn about the rights of Spanish-speaking voters.
Read the settlement below and see which 33 York county voting districts will have bilingual voting ballots
The election board will also update the poll worker manual to make it legal and possible for bilingual poll workers to work outside the voting precinct where they reside. This means those workers could be available to work in precincts that have a larger Spanish-speaking population.
Monskie said the county has no bilingual employees in its elections department, but has access to Spanish-speaking employees in other departments who may be able to assist when needed. The elections office will be staffed with a Spanish-speaking person to provide real-time assistance or translation on Election Day.
“We are always looking to hire individuals who are bilingual since we recognize the importance of having employees with those skills/qualifications, not just because of this particular case. This is true across all County departments. Unfortunately, finding individuals with this skill set is difficult in the current labor market,” Monskie said.
The county will also provide bilingual ballots in 33 districts that are considered areas with a large Spanish-speaking population. Before CASA filed its lawsuit last year, only 18 precincts offered bilingual ballots. The county agreed to send out physical and electronic correspondence in Spanish and in English to notify which voting precincts will have paper bilingual ballots
According to the settlement terms, the county is required to re-evaluate in 2026 whether more precincts should have bilingual ballots. It will use demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey’s Five-Year Estimate in order to do this.
The agreement is valid until 2028, but the county says the term limits reflect that demographic data might change and that the county will periodically review this data to ensure it is in compliance with the terms. Monskie said the county is updating its preparation and election-day processes to incorporate the changes set forth in the settlement agreement in time for the November 7 election.
Gabriela Martinez / WITF
CASA members hold press event to celebrate agreement with York county commissioners in 2022.
CASA accused the board of elections of violating Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act, which protects voting access for Puerto Ricans and other U.S. citizens educated in schools where the predominant language was not English. York County Board of Elections denies violating the Voting Rights Act in any way, according to the settlement.
Last year, the county avoided a preliminary injunction sought by CASA’s lawsuit by agreeing to provide paper copies of bilingual sample ballots for all 161 voting precincts. Bilingual sample ballots will be available at all voting precincts and on the county’s election website for the lifetime of the agreement between CASA and York County.
“The most important thing we can do moving forward is make sure that voters are actually aware of these resources so that they can actually take advantage of them,” said Rayza Goldsmith, associate counsel at LatinoJustice PRLDEF and lead attorney on the case. Goldsmith added that it is important that word gets out to Spanish-speaking voters who may feel discouraged from going out to the polls because of past difficulties they faced trying to vote in the county.
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