Just before the chamber of origin cutoff yesterday afternoon, the Washington State House of Representatives voted 84 to 13 to pass bill that meaningfully facilitates participation in elections: HB 2023, which concerns language access.
Refugees and immigrants are very dedicated to becoming part of American democracy. Many have passed several citizenship tests, but unfortunately, it can still be incredibly difficult for them to participate in our elections. Oftentimes, voter information packets are only available in English and a select few high-resource languages, and when these citizens can’t access the information to vote, they don’t feel like they’re part of our society even though they’re paying taxes, sending their kids to our schools, and attending PTA meetings!
According to nonpartisan staff, HB 2023 would:
- Require counties to provide language assistance during elections when
more than 2.5 percent of voting-age citizens in certain language minority
groups in the county do not speak or understand English adequately
enough to participate in the electoral process and have not completed the
fifth grade at a rate higher than the national average. - Require the Secretary of State to determine which counties are subject
to these language assistance provisions.
The bill is expected to cost $3.7 million to implement through the 2027–2029 biennium, according to the fiscal note prepared by the Office of Financial Management. Only a fraction of that sum would be expended in the near term.
“The potential costs for implementing this bill, including developing bilingual voter instructions and materials, is estimated to be $714,810 for Fiscal Year 2025,” OFM explains. “These costs would be incurred by three counties based upon an analysis prepared by the Washington State Association of County Auditors (WSACA). These three counties are Chelan, Douglas and Grant. The costs for succeeding years will likely increase by an indeterminate amount, due to inflation, but are estimated at the Fiscal Year 2025 amount for the purposes of this analysis.”
Prime sponsor Clyde Shavers (D‑10th District: Snohomish and Island Counties) said in floor remarks urging his colleagues to vote yea: “Our democracy is stronger with everybody participating. It’s stronger when all our citizens can vote comfortably and knowledgeably. There is concrete evidence that shows that language assistant requirements have tangible positive effects in the rate of participation in our elections and governance. This bill drives an increase in faith and trust in government and to deepen its relation with citizens and the public officials and break barriers leading to today’s polarization.”
Representative Greg Cheney (R‑18th District: Clark County) concurred and said: “Those who don’t speak English as their primary language, they too can participate in the election process.” He reiterated: “This is not an unfunded mandate to the counties, but rather paid for by the state government.”
NPI congratulates the House on its passage of HB 2023. I had the opportunity to testify on this bill in its committee of origin and am glad that House leadership decided to select it for floor action. It’s a very worthy proposal.
Democracy functions best when many voices are heard. This bill represents a strong step toward making our system of elections more inclusive. Improved translation of ballots and pamphlets would finally allow Washingtonians not proficient in English to exercise their civic rights independently and confidently.
The roll call was as follows:
Roll Call
HB 2023
Elections/language assist.
3rd Reading & Final Passage
2/13/2024Yeas: 84; Nays: 13; Excused: 1
Voting Yea: Representatives Alvarado, Barkis, Barnard, Bateman, Berg, Bergquist, Berry, Bronoske, Caldier, Callan, Chambers, Chapman, Cheney, Chopp, Connors, Corry, Cortes, Davis, Dent, Doglio, Donaghy, Duerr, Entenman, Eslick, Farivar, Fey, Fitzgibbon, Fosse, Goehner, Goodman, Gregerson, Hackney, Harris, Hutchins, Klicker, Kloba, Kretz, Leavitt, Lekanoff, Low, Macri, Maycumber, McClintock, Mena, Morgan, Mosbrucker, Nance, Ormsby, Ortiz-Self, Orwall, Paul, Peterson, Pollet, Ramel, Ramos, Reed, Reeves, Riccelli, Robertson, Rude, Rule, Ryu, Sandlin, Santos, Senn, Shavers, Simmons, Slatter, Springer, Stearns, Steele, Stokesbary, Stonier, Street, Taylor, Thai, Tharinger, Timmons, Walen, Waters, Wilcox, Wylie, Ybarra, Jinkins
Voting Nay: Representatives Abbarno, Christian, Couture, Dye, Graham, Griffey, Jacobsen, McEntire, Orcutt, Schmick, Schmidt, Volz, Walsh
Excused: Representative Chandler
All thirteen nay votes came from Republicans. Ultra MAGA Republican State Party Chair Jim Walsh was not surprisingly one of those thirteen.
HB 2023 now moves to the Senate for further consideration.