Charles T. Canady: “Mr. Chairman, in 1965, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act to combat discrimination against African-Americans who…”

“Mr. Chairman, in 1965, Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act to combat discrimination against African-Americans who were being unconstitutionally denied the right to vote. It was not until 1975 that Congress added a requirement mandating that certain jurisdictions provide voting materials in languages other than English. The underlying premise for this expansion of the law was that it was somehow discriminatory to conduct an election in the English language. Bilingual ballots were a means to remedy this alleged discrimination. However, when the use of bilingual ballots was last mandated in 1992, after 17 years of use, no statistical evidence was produced to show that bilingual ballots had increased vote participation by language minorities in any covered jurisdiction. On April 18, 1996, the Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on what is now title II of the bill before the House. A number of distinguished witnesses testified that our society is becoming fragmented into linguistic ghettos, and federally mandated bilingual ballots only encourage such fragmentation.”