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Justice Department oversees elections in Colfax County

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By MARGERY A. GIBBS / The Associated Press

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 04:07:14 pm CDT

OMAHA — The U.S. Department of Justice was monitoring Colfax County primary elections in eastern Nebraska on Tuesday to ensure compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act.

The department also announced it would monitor elections in Bergen County, N.J.

A written release from the Justice Department said the counties are obligated under federal law to provide all election information, ballots and voting assistance information in Spanish and English.

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The department said its attorneys planned to coordinate the federal oversight and maintain contact with local election officials.

Asked by The Associated Press whether the oversight was prompted by a complaint, the federal department’s public affairs office declined to comment.

However, Colfax County Election Commissioner Rita Mundil said Tuesday that she was unaware of any complaints regarding elections in her county.

“I think they’re viewing my county because I have bilingual ballots,” Mundil said. “In fact, we’re the only county in Nebraska that has bilingual ballots.”

Neal Erickson, deputy secretary of state for elections, confirmed that Colfax in the only Nebraska county required by the Justice Department to print bilingual ballots. However, he said Sheridan County in northwest Nebraska is required to have a translator for Lakota, an American Indian language.

Likewise, the Justice Department had asked Mundil to hire poll workers who speak both Spanish and English at three precincts in the Colfax County seat of Schuyler, which has a large Hispanic population. Mundil said she was able to find bilingual poll workers for two of those precincts.

“I couldn’t find a bilingual poll worker for the third precinct, but I do have bilingual greeters there,” she said. “You do what you can.”

Schuyler lies about 60 miles west of Omaha. According to 2006 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Hispanics make up more than 33 percent of the county’s more than 10,000 residents.

The Census Bureau’s 2000 findings show that of Schuyler’s 1,748 households, nearly 480 were occupied by Hispanic families.

By midday Tuesday, no problems had been reported — with bilingual issues or otherwise, Mundil said.

“But turnout has been pretty light,” she added.


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Norm wrote on May 13, 2008 3:28 pm:
" Before the immigrant bashers descend upon this article, let me say thank you to the Department of Justice for protecting the right to vote for American citizens. Despite the lies from some xenophobes, most Latino folks in this country are citizens. The government should do whatever it takes to aid all citizens in pursuing their fundamental rights--in this case the right to vote. For those who would say that they don't do things like this in other countries, I would say that's what makes the U.S. great. Now if only we had a state attorney general who would be more interested in enforcing the rule of law and less interested in seeking the national limelight. "

 Douglas Novak Crete wrote on May 13, 2008 3:54 pm:
" If they want to stay isolated and speak spanish instead of english than we will accomodate them. Working meat packing plants and digging ditches doesn't require much english, does it? Those who choose to mainstream will have the opportunity to promote themselves into a profession that doesn't require a knife of a shovel. It is their choice and we do not help them at all with isolationist bilingual ballots. Maybe the Departmetn of Justice should concentrate on controlling the border crossing of illegal immigrants? Those who are here legally and choose to speak and vote exclusively in spanish have already chosen their future and it isn't very pretty. "

 Grundle wrote on May 13, 2008 4:02 pm:
" It seems to me that, if AG Jon Bruning was only seeking national attention, there are ways about it that would draw a LOT less scrutiny than his current stance. The Nebraska State Constitution states that our state's official language is English. If the Federal Government is going to require that election materials be provided in Spanish, then the Federal Government should be the ones footing the bill. "

 Terry wrote on May 13, 2008 4:14 pm:
" Right on Douglas! I knew there was at least one smart Bohunk left in Crete!
"

 db wrote on May 13, 2008 4:22 pm:
" In order to register to vote, you must present id verifying that you are a US citizen. I wish all these people who think people who do not speak fluent English are automatically illegal.

Does speaking fluent English make you a legal citizen? I doubt that because there are thousands of illegal immigrants that speak fluently. I know some US citizens from other countries who speak fluent English but cannot read English. Should we bar them from a constitutional guaranteed right to vote?


What about the thousands of native born Americans that cannot read or write? Does that fact make them illegal because they cannot read English?

Remember, the US Constitution applies to ALL people living in the US and not the ones who think and speak like you. "

 whatever wrote on May 13, 2008 7:36 pm:
" The Census Bureau statistics greatly understate the Hispanic population in Schuyler, probably by 40 to 50 percent. Let's look at the numbers presented. 2006 information shows 33 percent of 10,000 in Colfax County are Hispanic. Take into account that probably 95 percent of that number live in Schuyler. .33 x 10000 x .95 gives us 3135. The 2000 census shows 480 households out of 1748 are Hispanic, that is 27.45 percent of all households. It's a given that the average Hispanic household is larger than other demographic groups in Schuyler. Schuyler's population is 5371 according to the 2000 census. So what do we know today based on this information? Not necessarily anything, other than the Hispanic population is probably much higher than the statistics presented to us. And we can also extrapolate that much of the population won't be counted as they are in hiding given serious crackdowns going on as we speak that are flying underneath the "media radar". This post will make sense to some, but to most it will seem like nonsense. And Mr. Novak is correct. The path to success in this country is painted with the "music of English". I disagree on what seems an elitist assessment that "manual labor" is beneath the English speaker. But he is dead on that insisting to have a "world of Spanish" provided to anyone that wants it ensures isolation. The monied in this country are English Speaking and attend English speaking schools. It takes a long, long, long time for minority culture with no resources to penetrate and breakdown that barrier, even if you have the numbers to make a difference at the voting booth. The dirty little secret about America is that it really isn't a country "of the people and for the people". "

 JAZZY wrote on May 14, 2008 7:02 am:
" I know that this will probably be taken wrong....but when someone becomes a US citizen , they are to know english. Since the questions are to be asked in english. So why are we doing the election in a different language? Isn't that sort of strange. Our driving manuels are in two and amybe three languages bu our stop signs and road signs are in english. Did not change the language. WE ARE AMERICA! "

 Okie wrote on May 14, 2008 4:46 pm:
" What.....no comment on the Lakota interpreter? Remember, they are the FIRST Americans. "

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