Monday, May 08, 2006

House Members Look to Ban Bilingual Ballots

Newsmax reports:
A group of Republicans in the House is seeking to abandon bilingual ballots and language assistance at the polls.

In what the Los Angeles Times calls "a reflection of how tensions over immigration are pervading other issues,” the Republicans are lobbying their colleagues to let the 1965 Voting Rights Act’s language-assistance provisions expire.

The GOP members say bilingual ballots and language assistance to voters undermine national unity, increase the risk of election fraud and put an undue burden on state and local governments. "We believe these ballot provisions encourage the linguistic division of our nation and contradict the ‘melting pot’ ideal that has made us the most successful multiethnic nation on Earth," the Republican members said in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee.

Fifty lawmakers signed the letter.
We were predicting this.As the late Mayor Daley said,"Those who don't vote,don't count."