Translating Help for Utah's Hispanic Voters People who can't speak English and want to vote have a place to turn for help. November 6th, 2006 @ 2:24pm KSL Newsradio's Greg Neft reporting
"I was very confused," said voter Omar Milgareho. He could not understand he ballot, so he turned to the Utah Hispanic Democratic Caucus.
"Omar wouldn't be able to vote today, or his vote wouldn't count today, had he not had the assistance," said Chair Tony Yapias.
Yapias says anyone who needs it can call the caucus, "As long as I'm not an employer or union representative, it's within the legal means to do it," he said.
Milgareho says it was appreciated, "It helped me a lot," he said.
Yapias says his help is completely non partisan.
-------Response "Another example of making it easier and easier for the Hispanic community to not have to learn the language of the country THEY chose to live in. What a joke! I thought you had to pass a test to become a citizen of this country. I would think the test was in English. So if you can read enough to pass the test, why can’t you read enough to cast your ballot? Oh that’s right, these are people that were given amnesty 20 years ago, and STILL don’t WANT to learn enough English to cast a ballot. Why don’t they just have their children go to the polling place and translate the ballot for them, that’s what they do any other time? Am I angry about this? You bet I am. As the child of LEGAL immigrants, I know what my grand parents had to do to become citizens of this country, and it wasn’t having anyone else read the papers for them to fill out; it was learning English and doing it themselves. It meant learning English to take their driving tests, learning English to fill out job applications, and learning English to communicate in every day living. No one offered, nor did they expect to have anything done for them in Italian, their native tongue. They came to this country to live, so they were EXPECTED to learn English to survive. Why is it so different now for this ethnic group? Why make so many allowances for their failure to learn English"?
With all these programs Hispanics have like , News, TV, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, music and talk shows, and the list goes on; why would any one from a Latin country want to bother with learning English and simulating in the country. Another thing is, if you can't understand what the heck the person you are voting for is saying what makes you think your making a smart decision? Ellis Island was no joke, and forget about the hand me downs. In today's world we must press 1 to proceed in English, what a joke!
"I was very confused," said voter Omar Milgareho. He could not understand he ballot, so he turned to the Utah Hispanic Democratic Caucus.
"Omar wouldn't be able to vote today, or his vote wouldn't count today, had he not had the assistance," said Chair Tony Yapias.
Yapias says anyone who needs it can call the caucus, "As long as I'm not an employer or union representative, it's within the legal means to do it," he said.
Milgareho says it was appreciated, "It helped me a lot," he said.
Yapias says his help is completely non partisan.
-------Response "Another example of making it easier and easier for the Hispanic community to not have to learn the language of the country THEY chose to live in. What a joke! I thought you had to pass a test to become a citizen of this country. I would think the test was in English. So if you can read enough to pass the test, why can’t you read enough to cast your ballot? Oh that’s right, these are people that were given amnesty 20 years ago, and STILL don’t WANT to learn enough English to cast a ballot. Why don’t they just have their children go to the polling place and translate the ballot for them, that’s what they do any other time? Am I angry about this? You bet I am. As the child of LEGAL immigrants, I know what my grand parents had to do to become citizens of this country, and it wasn’t having anyone else read the papers for them to fill out; it was learning English and doing it themselves. It meant learning English to take their driving tests, learning English to fill out job applications, and learning English to communicate in every day living. No one offered, nor did they expect to have anything done for them in Italian, their native tongue. They came to this country to live, so they were EXPECTED to learn English to survive. Why is it so different now for this ethnic group? Why make so many allowances for their failure to learn English"?
With all these programs Hispanics have like , News, TV, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, music and talk shows, and the list goes on; why would any one from a Latin country want to bother with learning English and simulating in the country. Another thing is, if you can't understand what the heck the person you are voting for is saying what makes you think your making a smart decision? Ellis Island was no joke, and forget about the hand me downs. In today's world we must press 1 to proceed in English, what a joke!
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