MORROW, Ga. — It’s been one of the hottest controversies in Clayton County, in the City of Morrow, for months. And now the city council has found a way to deal with it.
Let the voters decide.
On August 8, the council approved a plan to let voters decide whether the city should start printing all of the municipal election ballots in more than one language in addition to English.
It’s been such a heated argument in Morrow that, at one point, one council member called a colleague “un-American” for wanting multi-language ballots.
So, the council decided to stay out of it and put it to the voters directly.
Supporters of multi-language ballots, led by Morrow City Council Member Van Tran, call the decision a victory.
“It’s a victory for the community, finally the people’s voice being heard,” Tran said Friday.
Tran and volunteers have, for months, been going door to door throughout the city with a petition calling for a new city ordinance requiring voting ballots to be printed in Vietnamese, Spanish and English.
There has been little support from other council members for an ordinance.
Then, suddenly, at Tuesday’s meeting, Council Member Dorothy Dean spoke up.
“I’d like to make a motion,” Dean said.
Dean proposed that, instead of the council debating and voting on a proposed ordinance, the council should order a city-wide referendum on November 7 to let voters decide.
The suggested ballot language, Dean said: “Shall the City of Morrow use bilingual ballots on all future elections? Yes or No?”
Dean’s motion passed unanimously.
She is the same council member who, in July, criticized Tran for trying to have ballots printed in multiple languages.
“I would like to say that is un-American, and inexcusable,” Dean said to Tran on July 12. “Shame on you, Van Tran.”
So far, no comment from Dean about asking for a referendum now.
“It was a surprise,” Tran said of when Dean asked for a referendum. “I’m happy with this, so at least now, it’s opened up to voters. It’s wonderful.”
Tran is working to determine if Morrow, in fact, might actually be required by the federal Voting Rights Act to print ballots in multiple languages because of the city’s growing minority populations--never mind any ordinance or referendum.
According to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department, in those jurisdictions where the voting age population of a minority reaches a certain threshold, "The requirements of the law are straightforward: all election information that is available in English must also be available in the minority language so that all citizens will have an effective opportunity to register, learn the details of the elections, and cast a free and effective ballot.
Tran cites census numbers indicating Morrow's population is 32.9% Asian and 22% Hispanic; however, she said it is not clear yet, how many are of voting age.
The idea of multi-language election ballots has its opponents among Morrow residents, which is evident at council meetings.
“If you don’t understand English, and cannot learn English, it is not the fault of the United States of America that you don’t understand English,” one resident said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
“In the United States, you speak English,” another resident said. “Learn English.”
Tran said that learning English is precisely what new citizens are doing.
For now, she’s already campaigning to try to pass the referendum, believing it has a good chance of approval.
“I can see the entire community will come together because this is a reasonable request,” she said, “to give the people the accessibility to vote.”
And Tran will ask the council to have the referendum question itself printed on the ballot in more than one language.
The mayor told 11Alive that the city will abide by whatever the voters decide.