Vol. 103 Planning language access

Trying to help a community in your jurisdiction that needs voting materials in a language other than English? When CCD looked at challenges for voters who don’t speak or understand English well, we learned

  • having printed information isn’t enough
  • poor translations make more work for non-English speakers, not less
  • accents, dialects, and jargon can be hard to understand, even when they know English

And, getting access to the ballot and being an informed voter takes more than translation. They have to learn the systems of government and voting, too. Having a language access plan can enrich your outreach approach and help you ensure that you are working to include voters with low English proficiency in your voter education and voter information work.

 

This workbook contains resources and tools that will help you deliver language access where and when voters need it.

Go to:

Section 1. Basic resources

Section 2. Planning for outreach and connecting with communities

Section 3. Creating a language access program

Section 4. Putting it all together

 

Section 01

Basic resources

Getting up to speed 

Get some grounding in what you need to know to reach people with low English proficiency, and how to do it. These quick resources will give you an overview of the experience of voters who might need language assistance.

Translation services 

Start with election-specific glossaries that have been vetted and tested.

→ Go to election glossaries from the Election Assistance Commission

Find service providers who specialize in language access, and set up a contract. These are two that we heard about during our research:

→ Language Line is a paid, on-demand service that connects citizens and government workers to translation or interpretation services via video or phone.
→ Voiance also provides remote, on-demand translation and interpretation services for a fee.

 

Section 02

Planning for outreach and connecting with communities

To reach people with low English proficiency, you need a plan and some ideas about what you’re going to say to them.

Inviting low English / low civics proficient voters to vote

Like other voters, new citizens need information about the mechanics of voting. But democracy works differently in the U.S. from anyplace else in the world, so it is helpful to build in a bit of civics education, too.

To invite new citizens and people with low English to voting, we’ve developed a set of messages you can edit and drop into everything from a local Bangladeshi newspaper to a Chaldean community radio show.

Reaching out to communities 

Cultural, ethnic, and heritage communities want to help you reach their people. Reaching out to new citizens requires only slight shifts in the communications strategy you already have.

  • Make a running list of what media outlets you see out in the wild (free newsstands, for example, or piles of papers at the grocery store) and what communities they serve.
  • Contact media outlets to extend voting opportunities to their communities.
  • Create a communications plan. (There’s a sample to work from above.)
  • Share your plan with community leaders and ask for feedback.
  • Develop relationships with the cultural or heritage community organizations in your area.  Ask what media outlets their clients or communities use.
  • Are there certain community leaders who people look up to or listen to? Invite those folks to help you and listen to what they say about the needs of their community.

 

Section 03

Creating a language access program

Start from wherever you are.

Just skimming the resources in this workbook will give you some ideas about quick things you might incorporate in your voter education programs.

Your state’s election commission or department or your state association of election administrators might have helpful resources, too. (Your state’s court system is also likely to have plans, tools, and resources that you can learn from and emulate.)

Demystifying the process

  • To start, find a few new citizens near your area and ask them what their top questions are when preparing to vote in an election.
  • Next, watch them try and find answers to their questions on your local election website. Take notes on what they struggle to find.
  • Soon, download and customize our pocket guide for your local election.  They’re easy to use and include the key information we know all voters need to know.  We have them available in Spanish, Chinese, Arabic.

Helping people feel seen and respected

  • To start, gather information by reading CCD’s recommended articles to learn about what new citizens experience. Take our webinars. Visit local events that highlight immigrant communities, like street fairs and festivals.  Meet the people who organize them.
  • Next, make a list of what immigrant communities exist in your area and what languages they speak.
  • Soon, create a language access plan using our guide.

Making information available across channels and media

  • To start, find out what ethnic media sources exist in your area.  Keep in mind you might have to travel to find them in you’re in a small town.
  • Next, talk to your state’s election department to see if they’ve done outreach in the past.
  • Soon, use our messaging suggestions and communications plan to develop ads in language.

Finding trusted intermediaries (like cultural and heritage community organizations)

  • To start, set up a meeting with the organization to let them know you’re interested in reaching their clients or community.  Like finding ethnic media, you may have to travel to find these entities.
  • Next, run a listening session with the clients and community, and let them ask you questions.
  • Soon, run a mock election so that the new citizens they work with can practice voting and learn about American elections

 

Section 04

Putting it all together

Getting trained: Take sensitivity training and train your poll workers, too

  • To start, look at what others have done. Election departments in California have developed training guides and even videos that help prepare for voters with disabilities.
  • Next, develop your own training for new citizen voters. Test your training with the connections you’ve made in various community and heritage centers.
  • Soon, roll out your training to poll workers.

Forming a language access committee

A committee can be a great source of advice about the needs of the communities you serve with language access. Make sure you have representation from communities that represent languages you are required to provide information in language for. Be ready to spend a little staff time to manage and support the committee. Make sure to brief your committee on how elections work, so they can make recommendations that work within your constraints.

An advisory committee can help you with

  • Getting feedback on your materials
  • Messaging strategies for different language communities
  • Outreach to communities
  • Being and finding bilingual poll workers

One example that has worked well is in California, where the Secretary of State’s office has formed a language access committee, and each county is encouraged to, as well.

→ Go to the California language access advisory committee toolkit