Only a month out from Election Day, there’s still a desperate need for volunteers to staff the polls at hundreds of sites throughout the South Bay.
Santa Clara County’s Registrar of Voters (ROV) needs more than 2,000 election officers to serve at 836 polling places. At least half must be bilingual, preferably fluent in Spanish and Chinese. Also needed are volunteers who speak Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer and Korean.
“Now is a critical time, and residents can help by volunteering to work at the polls as election officers,” ROV Shannon Bushey said. “We hope that residents will consider lending a hand in conducting the election and supporting democracy.”
Volunteers do earn a stipend of up to $200 for their work, which spans the entire day and requires training beforehand.
Election officers must be either citizens registered to vote, legal permanent residents or high school students aged 16 or older with a minimum grade point average of 2.5.
To sign up, visit www.sccvote.org or call any of the numbers listed below.
English, Japanese, Korean or Khmer: 408.299.7655
Spanish: 408.282.3095
Vietnamese: 408.282.3097
Chinese: 408.282.3086
Tagalog: 408.282.3089
Hindi: 408.282.3199
High schoolers: 408.282.3091
In order to vote LEGALLY, one must be a US citizen. Title 8 of the United States Code and Title 8 of the US Code of Regulations define what is necessary to become a US citizen. One requirement is that you be able to read, write, and speak English. Another is that you pass a test on US history. So, if being able to read, write, and speak English is a legal requirement to become a citizen, why does the ROV need volunteers who speak other languages to staff voting sites? Why are voter pamphlets required to be printed in other languages, at taxpayer expense? Because in 1975 section 203 was added to The Voting Rights Act adding such a requirement. That section and others that sprung from it need to be repealed. If you are too lazy, too disrespectful of this country, or too stupid to learn to read, write, and speak English, you should not be granted citizenship, and thus you should not be allowed to vote.
One must be able to speak English to become a US citizen (except in some cases), but one must not be able to speak English to *be* a US citizen. Since this country does not have an official language, I don’t see how you can argue that it should be a requirement that one be able to speak English. I’d also like to note that the level of English required to become a US citizen is way lower than that required to understand the myriad of proposition on this year’s ballot.
what is your point, sounds like a racial rant! A lot of hatred here.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to put it into words of one syllable so that you might understand.
“If you are too lazy, too disrespectful of this country, or too stupid to learn to read, write, and speak English, you should not be granted citizenship, and thus you should not be allowed to vote.” – JOHNMICHAEL O’CONNER
Didn’t you run for a council seat in San Jose sometime in the past?
Sounds like you could have run for President.
That was pretty mean of him to say. Language development happens between 1 and 3, and we’re fairly hard wired to speak the language we grew up with. The only exception to the rule is if someone grows up in a multi-lingual house/culture.
My great grandfather spoke good English, but talked to his kids in mixed Sicilian. My grandfather never spoke conversational Sicilian with his sons, and I know barely any.