What works for outreach to communities with low English proficiency and low civics literacy

Based on what we learned, we identified some ways election officials can remove barriers to new citizens participating in civic life.

Demystify the process

New citizens took a civics test to become naturalized. But those historical and government facts don’t come close to closing civic literacy gaps. New citizens need help knowing what to expect (just like young, first time voters do) and how our systems of voting and elections work.

Do this by:

• Providing materials in languages other than English for how to prepare to vote

Make information available across channels and media

Go to where new citizen voters are paying attention. Plan to reach voters across audio, video, and social media. If you have information in print in language, be ready to have interpreters available at live events and in polling places.

Do this by:

• Seeking out ethnic media outlets in your area
• Deciding what messages are most important
• Developing a communications plan
• Working with schools (In many immigrant families, children learning English in school often translate for the entire family)

Help people feel seen and respected

U.S. elections are unique in the world. Even if a new citizen came from a democratic country, those electoral systems are different from ours. For example, we vote on a lot more local offices. Things that might be okay (or normal) in other places might not be legal in this country. Help new citizens know what the rules are here and how things might be different.

Do this by:

• Visiting heritage events and introducing yourself
• Creating a language access plan

Find trusted intermediaries (like cultural and heritage community organizations)

There is no substitute for a personal introduction. Find cultural and language advisors in your community. They can help you reach new citizens. And you might find a new source of poll workers, as well.

Do this by:

• Saying hello by setting up a intro meetings with cultural or heritage organizations
• Inviting some new citizens to tell you their stories
• Running a mock election so people can practice

Take sensitivity and diversity training and train your poll workers, too

Whether it’s people with disabilities or new citizens who don’t speak English, it’s easy to make assumptions about what voters need. Sensitivity training can help you ask the right questions of the wide range of voters in your jurisdiction so you can support them becoming informed, active voters.

Do this by:

• Looking at what other cities and townships have done
• Developing your own training and rolling it out to your poll workers

We published a toolkit based on this research.

Planning language access

Trying to help a community in your jurisdiction that needs voting materials in a language other than English? When CCD…

Toolkit

This research was conducted by Christopher Patten and Dana Chisnell.

This year-long research project included stakeholder interviews, journey mapping, ethnographic research through storytelling and interviews, desk research, and a literature review.