Colorado’s Latino population has jumped significantly in the past decade, but more voting-age Latino adults are literate and speak English well enough that few need ballots printed in Spanish, according to the latest Census Bureau data.
In a determination that surprised county clerks and Secretary of State Scott Gessler, only three Colorado counties will be required under Voting Rights Act requirements to print ballots in Spanish as well as English. And all of those already provide ballots in two languages.
Seven counties that previously had to provide dual-language ballots are no longer covered by the mandate. Thirteen counties that had anticipated a new dual-language order are off the hook.
Costilla, Denver and Rio Grande are the only counties where high enough populations of Spanish speakers with limited English skills and above-average illiteracy rates triggered the dual-language requirement under 2010 Census figures.
Alamosa, Conejos, Crowley, LaPlata, Montezuma, Otero and Saguache counties will no longer be required to provide ballots in languages other than English. In the case of LaPlata and Montezuma counties, translators will no longer need to be available to help Ute and Navajo-speaking voters with languages that are not written.
“To say we are surprised is an understatement,” said Rich Coolidge, a spokesman for Gessler’s office.
Gessler also released a statement reading, “The good news is the data indicates improvements statewide in English proficiency and literacy rates over the past decade. Going forward, my office remains committed to providing support for the Spanish speaking community under Colorado election law.”
Gessler’s office had sparked some hurried preparation for change and fears about election cost increases when he pulled data from early Census reports and informed 16 Colorado counties with increased Latino populations that they would likely be covered under what is referred to as a Section 203 mandate.
Gessler held numerous phone conferences with clerks in those counties discussing how they could implement dual-language ballots in time for the upcoming November elections. Gessler also had been investigating whether counties simply could provide Spanish ballots on demand.
But the latest Census figures that were used by the U.S. Department of Justice to make determinations about which counties would be covered, were based on answers to a survey, not just ethnicity numbers.
The determinations were based on voting age and citizenship status in ethnic groups, how many minority residents had not completed 5th grade and how many did not speak or understand English well.
Garfield County Clerk Jean Alberico, who had been anticipating that her county would be mandated to provide Spanish ballots, said she doesn’t feel like her time spent on preparing for that was wasted.
“It was a great learning experience,” said Alberico, who will continue voluntarily to provide election materials in Spanish and to have bilingual poll workers to serve the large Latino population there.
Conejos County Clerk Lawrence Gallegos said he wishes the information about which counties would be covered by the mandate would have come sooner. Conejos County had been mandated to provide Spanish ballots in the past, but was dropped from the new list. Gallegos already had prepared Spanish ballots for the November election even though he said very few voters ever used the ballots that cost his office $1,500 to $2,000 per general election for extra printing and translation costs.
“I wish the information would have come out two months ago. It would have saved us money,” Gallegos said.
Nationally, Section 203 mandates will cover 248 counties and other voting jurisdictions with a total of more than 19 million citizens from language minority groups. That is an increase of 42.7 percent since the last Section 203 requirements mandates were issued in 2002.
Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com
