Translating Democracy: Why the US Constitution Should Be Translated into 100 Languages

By Steve Chu

President, Treehouse Strategy

Treehouse Strategy is a management consulting company that specializes in working with language companies to help them grow and get to the next level.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 was the mid-term elections in the United States. Amidst the record turnout for a mid-term election, a group of voters saw their basic rights in a democratic society eroded at best. At worst, their voting rights were suppressed.

In Harris County, Texas, volunteer Korean translators were compelled by the county’s election administrator to be more than 100 feet away from the Trini Mendenhall Community Center entrance because of electioneering rules. The volunteer Korean translators were barred to be inside the polling station, effectively preventing them from offering their translation services to Korean-speaking voters. The lack of access for these Korean voters, many of whom senior citizens, amounts to disenfranchising the Korean community in Harris County, Texas.

In New York, where Treehouse Strategy is based, a similar story was playing out. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has expanded a program that puts more translators at polling stations across the city. But the New York City Board of Elections required that these translators maintain the 100-foot electioneering marker.

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) estimates that there are 1.6 million immigrants in New York, more than half of whom are citizens. And approximately 853,000 people in New York speak languages other than English.

Without access to language translation, many of these communities would see their voting rights suppressed. Language access thus is necessary to access to our political system. Without the linguistic fluency, these communities’ political voice is literally not heard. The absence of that political voice, in turn, means that the immigrant communities do not have the political fluency and the political language to effect in change.

Language access is a critical and necessary component of our democracy. The 15th Amendment of the United States Constitution states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Of course, the 15th Amendment is not ostensibly referring to language access, translation, or the immigrant community. But the reality is that ours is a country of immigrants. The right to vote is so fundamental to our democracy that four out of the 27 amendments—the 15th, 19th, 24th, and the 26th Amendments—are concerned with voting. 

Language access is the path to a strong democracy in which all of our voices are heard—literally. I am Steve Chu and I approve this message.