US sues Springfield over voting rights

Spanish-speakers ill-treated, it says

August 03, 2006|Associated Press

The City of Springfield violated the voting rights of Spanish-speaking residents by failing to provide the proper assistance at the polls, according to a federal lawsuit filed yesterday by the US Justice Department.

Registered voters with little or no knowledge of English also faced ``hostile treatment" at the polls and in some cases left without casting a ballot because of that treatment and lack of assistance, the department said.

The city failed to allow Spanish-speaking voters to receive assistance at the polls from a friend, a relative, or another person of their own choice, as is required by the law, even when there was no other bilingual assistance available, the Justice Department said.

``The right to vote is a fundamental guarantee for all American citizens," said Wan J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.

Federal law requires that areas with a significant minority-language voter population -- either 5 percent or 10,000 voting-age citizens, based on federal census numbers -- provide verbal and written voting instruction in that language as well as English, said Cynthia Magnuson, a Justice Department spokeswoman.

Voters or elections officials often bring problems at the polls for non-English speakers to the attention of the Justice Department, but the department also conducts its own investigations, which was the case in Springfield.

Most similar lawsuits are settled before going to trial, according to the Justice Department.

Kim said in a statement that the goal is to settle before federal elections later this year.

If the case does go to trial, the city could be forced to make the required changes, be held in contempt, and could lose Election Assistance Commission funding.

Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan declined to comment yesterday because he had not seen the lawsuit. The city's lawyer did not return a call from the Associated Press last night.