Every day or two, elections officials look over a to-do list of
25 or so reminders from a federal directive issued in June to
supply equal voting tools for Spanish-speaking residents.
Every day or two, elections officials look over a to-do list of 25 or so reminders from a federal directive issued in June to supply equal voting tools for Spanish-speaking residents.
Every time they’ve glanced at that detailed list, the calendar has crept that much closer to the Nov. 2 election.
Now heading into August, it’s clear that once the county hires a bilingual coordinator – responsible for overseeing much of the planned reform – he or she will be thrust into a rigorous hustle before the polls open.
Hiring a bilingual coordinator was one of many requirements in a Department of Justice lawsuit against San Benito’s Elections Office. A settlement with the DOJ included a commitment from the county to follow the laws – such as having a Spanish ballot and many poll signs written in the language.
From the laundry list of federal mandates, the bilingual coordinator will be responsible for tripling the number of Spanish-speaking poll workers and forming a bilingual advisory committee. The worker is intended, essentially, to run the Spanish-speaking portion of the election.
“We need that coordinator real bad,” said head elections official John Hodges.
There was an urgency to hire the new official “about a month-and-a-half ago,” Hodges said. A debate among county supervisors in June, over interpretation of the position’s job duties, held off the recruitment by about two or three weeks.
San Benito County started recruiting for the key role about a month ago and plans to hold interviews in a couple of weeks, officials said.If the county hires someone by the end of August, the coordinator would have two months preparation for one of the most highly scrutinized local elections in recent history.
The DOJ plans to monitor progress after suing the county in late May for breaking the election laws, some of which took effect as recently as early 2004. The local chapter of LULAC, which filed the complaint that spurred the DOJ’s investigation, also promised to keep a close watch on the election.
As of right now, San Benito has secured only 15 Spanish-speaking poll workers – the same as in the March election and about 30 short of the federal mandate. Officials hope a board-approved pay raise for those duties will entice more people to take part.
Meanwhile, the Elections Office is doing what it can to keep pace with the stringent timeline, Hodges said. Officials will meet the requirements, he said, “to the best of our ability.”
“It’s putting a real crimp on the Elections Department because we just don’t have the staff,” Hodges said.
San Benito also hired a firm to translate all appropriate elections documents. And the county retained a San Francisco lawyer to guide San Benito’s compliance with the federal decree.
“We’re doing the work, and he’s just making sure we’re crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s,” Hodges said of the county’s lawyer, Randy Riddle.
Riddle, former chief counsel for Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, said he communicates regularly with elections officials. They have a close working relationship, he said.
“At this point I think the county’s making steady progress toward compliance,” Riddle said, calling the recently county-hired firm, “a top-flight translation service.”
Supervisor Reb Monaco said the county is doing its best to get a bilingual coordinator on board – a position he called unique, and one that’s not easy to fill.
“We should be able to demonstrate that we’re complying to the best of our ability on this,” Monaco said.
