STATEWIDE — Almost half of Florida’s counties will provide more Spanish-language voting resources after a yearslong battle ended in a settlement this week.
What You Need To Know
- Settlement calls for 31 Florida counties to provide Spanish-language ballots
- Some other election materials also will be produced in Spanish
- A lawsuit had accused the counties of violating the Voting Rights Act
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- The need increased after an influx of Puerto Ricans following Hurricane Maria
Almost three years ago, Marta Rivera, 73, went to her polling place in Gainesville, Fla., to cast her ballot stateside for the first time. She said there weren’t any Spanish-language resources to help her, which made things complicated because Rivera only speaks Spanish.
“I was able to vote, but I needed to bring my daughter to help me,” Rivera said in Spanish. “I didn’t understand anything.”
Her experience led her to file a lawsuit with the support of multiple Hispanic organizations against 32 Florida counties, including several Central Florida supervisor of elections offices. The lawsuit, Rivera v. Barton, claimed the supervisors of elections in those offices violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. Those counties ran English-only elections and didn’t provide resources to help Spanish-speaking voters, the plaintiffs said.
“Section 4-E is specific to the rights of voters who are educated in a public school in Puerto Rico and who are limited-English proficient,” Miranda Galindo, Latino Justice southeast regional senior legal counsel, said.
After Hurricane Maria, the need for Spanish-language resources became a necessity as hundreds of survivors moved to Florida, including Rivera, Galindo said. An estimated 300,000 Puerto Ricans came to Florida after Hurricane Maria.
“That just means there are more voters being harmed by a county’s failure to provide Spanish-language voting services,” Galindo said.
The case was settled on Monday, with 31 of the 32 counties in agreement. For the next 10 years, the counties agree to provide additional Spanish-language support services, such as Spanish-language ballots, Spanish-language polling place materials and assistance, and a Spanish-language supervisor of elections website.
“It shouldn’t have taken this long, but that’s what our organization and the plaintiff’s organizations are doing is ensuring that we are monitoring and observing violations of the Voting Rights Act,” Galindo said.
“I’m so shocked and happy,” Rivera said. “In November, I received a Spanish-language vote-by-mail ballot, and I was able to cast my vote all by myself.”
The state of Florida recently implemented some of the resources to help Spanish-language speakers. Galindo said they would continue to monitor all 67 Florida counties to ensure they provide resources for Spanish-speaking voters and remain in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.
The counties that agreed include Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Duval, Escambia, Flagler, Hernando, Highlands, Indian River, Jackson, Lake, Leon, Levy, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Monroe, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Pasco, Putnam, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Sumter, Taylor and Wakulla.
