FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2007

Contact: Lydia Lowe 617-259-1503

CHINESE AMERICANS SPEAK UP FOR BILINGUAL BALLOT

Chinese-speaking voters and community leaders will stand in support of a fully translated Chinese bilingual ballot at a press conference and speak-out this Monday.

Community Speak-Out for Chinese Bilingual Ballots

Monday, July 9th

12:00 noon

in front of the Massachusetts State House

Chinese bilingual ballots, and an increase in bilingual poll workers, were the result of the US Department of Justice lawsuit and agreement with the City of Boston that followed in August 2005. But Secretary of State William Galvin, who governs statewide election policy, has consistently opposed the inclusion of Chinese transliterated, or phoneticized, names for candidates on the ballot. Now that the City of Boston has set a successful precedent by twice providing a fully translated Chinese bilingual ballot that includes transliterated candidate names, Galvin is opposing both the City of Boston and the Department of Justice in US District Court in an attempt to eliminate phoneticized candidate names from the Chinese bilingual ballot.

Chinese American community members say that inclusion of candidate names is the most important part of the bilingual ballot.

Both the City of Boston and the US Department of Justice agree that Chinese bilingual ballots should include phoneticized candidate names, since the Chinese language does not use the Western alphabet. The US District Court Judge William G. Young has given Secretary Galvin until July 9 to respond to the court on the issue.