The Challenge of Translations

April 27, 2010 - Federal law requires that we provide election materials in multiple languages (as defined by the Voting Rights Act, Section 203). We support Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese. Once the ballot is set then the process of translation begins. It is a complex process - imagine a single ballot that you may vote on in your neighborhood - there will be contests for Governor, State propositions, Countywide races, and local measures. Each of these items contains multiple lines of text (some lengthy - such as the ballot text in State propositions). All of this must be translated by our court certified translators then proofed by our language specialists (with the exception of State contests, which are provided by the State of California).

That single ballot can go through half a dozen or more iterations, just to have a locked ballot ready for mailing. We have been in that process now for several weeks and we are closing in on finalizing all language ballots (the first of which will be locked tomorrow).