What is Section 208?
Section 208 is a part of the Voting Rights Act that gives every voter the right to bring someone of their choice to the voting booth if they need help voting. This law allows people who have trouble reading or writing English, are blind or can’t see well, or have a disability to have assistance at the polls.
This allows many people with family members who cannot read or write English well to also vote.
However…
Minnesota’s current voting laws keeps one person from giving translation assistance to more than three people. This means community members who have tried translating for multiple family members were not allowed to assist those family members; those denied translation either didn’t vote, or had to vote without understanding what was on the ballot. This is a violation of the right to a translator of choice, and a violation of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Minnesota’s misinterpretation of the VRA keeps our families from voting and keeps our voices from being heard.
How can you help?
- Spread information about voting rights to your constituents.
- If you know anybody who has been impacted, let us know. We need narratives of people who have been impacted by this law to convince the Secretary of State that it is problematic.
- Sit down with us and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (DC) to learn more in-depth what we can do about section 208.
Voting can be a complicated and intimidating process, especially for voters with limited English. Section 208 is a tool that voters can use to make the voting process easier.
We must defend the right to an assister of choice so that our communities can exercise their basic right to vote.