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Saturday, November 13, 2010

Arkansas Politics Mark Martin targets Spanish speakers

Posted by Max Brantley on Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 7:44 AM

Rep. Mark Martin, the expense-account padding extremist Republican from Northwest Arkansas who was elected secretary of state, has much zaniness in store for Arkansas. This is just a taste. Based on comments on his Facebook page, he would appear to be preparing to tell U.S. citizens they better learn to speak English if they expect any voter registration information from his office.

Voter forms are now available in Spanish. Can't be helping new citizens by smoothing the way to the voting booth in the brave new Republican world.

I hope Mark Martin reads the federal Voter Rights Act before he moves on this, because it would appear to require presentation of voter forms for "language minorities." (Rep. Hutchinson, you might read that act, too. It also provides guarantees for information in native American language, a heritage you share. Maybe Mark should throw those bums out, too.)

PS — As several readers noted, the Arkansas Constitution requires officials to prepare voter forms in Spanish. So, however can-do Moonbeam Martin might be, he can't change this. Legally anyway.

Tags: Mark Martin, Donna Hutchinson, Spanish language state documents

        
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