CA SOS can advance voting rights with one simple move

Capitol Weekly welcomes Opinions on California public policy or politics. Click here for more information about submitting an Op-Ed.

OPINION – Six years ago, I was part of a team of legal advocates that sought to make translated voting materials more widely available to California’s immigrant voters. That effort failed on one central point, meaning that as ballots head to voters today for the November 4 special election, over 50,000 limited-English speaking voters will try to vote without access to translated ballot materials.

In the coming months, Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber has the chance to remedy the situation. In a required guidance the Secretary will issue later this year, she can use her discretion to change a single definition and, in so doing, knock down barriers to the ballot for immigrant Californians.

Doing so would make a statement on behalf of California: In the face of the national government’s demonization of immigrant communities, our state is taking proud, proactive steps to ensure an inclusive and multilingual democracy they can call home.

The Secretary is admirably committed to this already. In August, at a 50th anniversary celebration of a federal law that lowers barriers to the ballot for eligible immigrant voters, Weber acknowledged that California can and should do more. “We’re going to continue to push and push to make sure that these [language] barriers do not stand in the way of all Californians who are citizens of this country who want to vote,” she said. “Our job is to encourage them, to expand the opportunity.”

Here’s why we have work left to do. Under current law, if a large group of eligible voters speak the same language within a single county and if the language they speak falls within the federal Voting Rights Act’s definition of “language minority” — specifically, speakers of Spanish, Asian languages, and Native languages – those voters are eligible for comprehensive translation services under federal law.

If a smaller group of folks speak the same language within one neighborhood, and again if the language they speak falls within the federal definition of “language minority,” they are eligible for a lighter form of assistance under state law.

However, if immigrant voters speak a language not recognized under federal law, they get nothing. No translated ballots or instructions. No bilingual poll workers. No help whatsoever under federal or state law — no matter how large or concentrated the community may be.

This exclusion affects many of California’s most vibrant and established immigrant communities. Arabic-speaking voters from the Middle East and North Africa. Farsi speakers from Iran. Armenian speakers. Somali and Amharic speakers from the Horn of Africa. These are our neighbors, our coworkers, our fellow Californians.

One Somali-speaking voter in San Diego County said in 2020, “I know of people who wanted to vote but couldn’t because they did not know the language.” An Arabic-speaking voter added that some Arabic-speaking voters aren’t “able to understand most of the process” which means some “Arabic speakers most likely won’t vote . . . a lot of voices will be lost.”

If that feels wrong to you, others agree. Voting rights advocates have tried for years to make all immigrant voters eligible for the benefits of state law. Bills to that end were vetoed in 2024 and died in Senate Appropriations in 2025.

But the Secretary of State, a longtime champion of voting rights, can fix this herself without legislation. Here’s why. State law does not say anywhere that California has to use the federal law’s definition of “language minority.”

Six years ago, I helped bring a lawsuit — Asian Americans Advancing Justice v. Padilla — that challenged then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s decision to adopt the federal definition of “language minority” and exclude immigrant Californians from countries outside of Latin America and Asia. A California appellate court held that the Secretary had “not erred or abused his discretion in looking to the Voting Rights Act’s definition.” But the court did not state that the Secretary had to use federal law’s narrow definition — it merely said he could if he wished.

Secretary Weber could define “language minority” to mean any non-English speaking group. Overnight, she would extend state law’s language access protections to over 50,000 immigrant Californians.

At the August event, Weber told language access advocates, “This is a very diverse state … and people have a right to vote. We should not create obstacles. We should create opportunities for people to vote.” This move would do exactly that. Secretary Weber has the chance to expand voting rights and honor the Voting Rights Act on its 60th anniversary year.

Jonathan Mehta Stein is a voting rights attorney and an advocate for an inclusive democracy.