WTF Department

[Hawkmoon]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/11/03/justice-department-dispatches-poll-monitors-for-election-day/

The Justice Department has dispatched federal poll monitors to 18 states in an effort to prevent voter discrimination ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Monday.

The monitors will look for race-based discrimination and inadequate resources for bilingual voters and individuals with disabilities, the agency said in a statement on Monday.

Why do we need resources for bilingual voters? By definition, someone who is lingual speaks two languages. If someone doesn't speak/read English well enough to understand the instructions and to vote in English -- then they shouldn't be voting.

And then there's the unspoken reality that they don't really mean "bilingual," they mean Hispanic. We have a lot of Hispanics around here, and may simple refuse to learn English. We also have a significant Polish community, a Russian community, a Greek community, a Chinese community ... and probably several more. So is AG Holder sending his monitors to ensure that there is assistance for voters available in Polish, Russian, Greek, and Chinese? Some how I don't think so.

This country screwed up royally by not formally adopting English as THE national language when we had a chance to do so. There are so many Hispanics here now that I don't we could ever pass an "Official English" amendment today.

[Calumus]

This annoys the crap out of me. The is a component of the citizenship exam that requires competency with the english language. If you can't pass it, you're not supposed to get your citizenship. If you don't have your citizenship you're not legally allowed to vote. I don't think there should be ANY resources for those not fluent in English at the polls.

[Jamisjockey]

Kowtowing to the invaders who refuse to assimilate will only speed up the inevitable break up and balkanization of the United States.

[Ben]

Annoys the crap out of me as well. Especially being from an immigrant family, that along with millions of other immigrant families from dozens of other countries, somehow managed language assimilation all on their own.

[Devonai]

I can think of one specific reason a person like this could be useful, but only this: Someone who is competent enough with English to pass their citizenship exam may not understand some of the inscrutible language on ballot questions. CT had a question regarding a state constitutional amendment to modify absentee voting rules. If I hadn't researched it prior to walking in there on Tuesday, I would have NFC how to vote on it. Good luck if English isn't your first language.

[wmenorr67]

I can think of one specific reason a person like this could be useful, but only this: Someone who is competent enough with English to pass their citizenship exam may not understand some of the inscrutible language on ballot questions. CT had a question regarding a state constitutional amendment to modify absentee voting rules. If I hadn't researched it prior to walking in there on Tuesday, I would have NFC how to vote on it. Good luck if English isn't your first language.

Hell even if English is your first language, 90% of the time unless you have a law degree you can't understand how state questions are worded.

[Ben]

Hell even if English is your first language, 90% of the time unless you have a law degree you can't understand how state questions are worded.

I take at least 1-2 hours pretty much every time I vote to research various propositions to ensure I understand them correctly.