Thanks to new member Craig Lutz, the Hall County Elections Board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to rescind an April vote to adopt new Spanish language ballots for county and state elections. The panel’s two Democrats voted against rescinding, and newcomer Lutz joined a fellow Republican panelist and the independent chairman to vote for repeal.
Jerry Gonzalez, head of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, now threatens a “voting rights” lawsuit to obtain the Spanish election material.
Lutz, who first requested the bilingual ballot reconsideration, said no one knew the cost involved and argued that English-only ballots don’t disenfranchise voters. In fact, opponents point out that citizens having trouble reading a ballot in English may ask for interpreter assistance.
Lutz also offered a motion to create a committee to study the costs of providing ballots in Spanish, and it was unanimously approved.
A final note: Since all voters must be citizens— and proficient English is a requirement for citizenship– opponents wonder why the elections panel felt it necessary in the first place to mandate adoption of a foreign language ballot.
