Korean is added To Cook County Election Ballots starting March 2020, Getty Images, photo from this article
Beginning with 2020 March Illinois Primary, the Korean language was included in ballots of Cook County, Illinois. All electronic ballots included Korean during early voting and on Election Day March 17. Paper ballots in Korean were also available on Election Day in Maine, Niles, and Northfield townships.
According to the U.S. Census, it’s estimated that there are 40,500 Korean Americans in Cook County, ranking the 7th of all counties. Over 40% of Korean Americans in Cook County are considered Limited English Proficient (LEP), meaning that they may have some difficulty with speaking or reading English. This is over 16,000 Korean Americans. This news will help Korean American voters with language difficulties.
A state or political subdivision (usually a county, but a township or municipality in some states) is subject to election-related minority language assistance requirements when Census data shows one or more of the following in relation to single language minority groups (defined by 42 U.S.C. § 1973aa-1a(e) as persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, or of Spanish heritage):
- If more than 5% of voting age citizens are limited-English proficient,
- OR If more than 10,000 voting age citizens are limited-English proficient,
- AND The rate of total voting age citizens that are limited-English proficient and have less than a 5th grade education is higher than the national rate.
- THEN The state, county, or county subdivision under consideration is covered for that specific minority group of Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. To guarantee an equal opportunity to voting participation by citizens of language minorities, a state or local government should provide voting materials in languages other than English where a need for a specific language is demonstrated.
According to the DOJ, “covered jurisdictions are determined by the Census Bureau after each Census based upon a formula set out in the Voting Rights Act. The most recent determinations were made on December 5, 2016.” A listing of all U.S. locations with minority language assistance requirements is available online. Although Korean was not included as a language minority group in Cook County according to this data, Scott Britton, currently serving in his first term as a county commissioner, said members of the Korean community approached him during his run for office, expressing their frustration. “I realized that while federal law does not require those languages, they are large in numbers, and they have significant barriers that have been put up to those individuals, particularly in my district and the Korean population, who have not been able to exercise their franchise,” Britton said.
This is the 8th county providing the Korean language in ballots. The 7 other counties are Bergen County, NJ, Queens County NY, Orange County CA, Los Angeles County, CA, San Francisco County, CA, Fairfax County, VA, and King County, WA.
This is largely a success story of KA Voice, an organization working on voting rights advocacy, and also a partner organization of KAGC. KA Voice has been working on this since 2015 and this is a great example of grassroots advocacy.
Please refer below for the original article of this news, one-pager about Sections 203 and 4(f)(4) of the Voting Rights Act (including a list of counties with ballots available in Korean and states with voter registration forms available in Korean), and KAGC voter data of Illinois and Illinois Election Information.
Journal & Topics: “Korean, Tagalog Added To Cook County Election Ballots”
KAGC Summary on Korean Language Services in Elections (Section 203, Voting Rights Act)
KAGC Analysis on Korean American Voter Data: Illinois
More information on voting in Illinois