GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett County will soon have voting materials available for communities in four additional languages.
The county announced it will soon offer voting materials translated in Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin and Vietnamese in the coming year.
Gwinnett County Elections Supervisor Zach Manifold said the materials are a collaborative effort between the county's Board of Commissioners, Board of Elections and Voter Registration.
County leaders said it has its budget and materials ready to go after it was approved last week.
"Gwinnett has a very diverse community and we want to make sure everyone has access to the elections and understands the process," Manifold said.
The county will work with its own employees and other services to translate the materials in order to distribute them throughout the community. It will also organize collaboration groups with each one of the language communities for outreach.
"We're going to have collaboration groups where members of the community will essentially give us feedback on what makes sense for translation," Manifold said. "To make sure that we're getting out to the right community events and to the right groups."
Manifold said the county also plans to recruit more bilingual poll workers to help out on Election Day.
"I think there's a lot of excitement," he said. "A lot of groups have been asking for quite a while, 'Are we going to do more?'" he said.
However, at this time, Gwinnett County will only offer actual election ballots in English and Spanish per federal requirements.
"I think it's all just the beginning of a conversation with each one of these communities and making sure that we're providing access," Manifold said.