Lucas Votes To Keep Ballots In English

LUCAS VOTES TO KEEP BALLOTS IN ENGLISH
Urges House Leadership to Establish System
of Voting in One Language

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Frank Lucas voted to stop federal dollars from being used to implement election ballots in languages other than English, and urged the House leadership to not allow pending election law to be passed without amendments to allow English-only ballots to be used.

"There's no denying that English is our national language," Lucas said. "You need to speak English to interact and conduct business in this country, so you certainly should have to be able to read English to vote."

Lucas voted Wednesday for an amendment to legislation which would prevent federal funds to be used to provide voting materials, such as ballots, in languages other than English. The amendment failed by a vote of 167 to 254.

Lucas also signed onto a letter to the House leadership expressing his concerns about the foreign language amendment. He and other members expressed their concerns about creating linguistic divisions, creating an unfunded mandate, and the potential for voter error or fraud.

"This requirement to provide various foreign-language ballots and instructions is an unfunded mandate on our cities and counties that bear the costs of conducting elections," Lucas said. "Our street signs are written in English, our laws are written in English, and our election ballots should be in English too."

Lucas also has cosponsored legislation to make English the official language of the United States, and establishes a uniform English language rule for naturalization.

The failed amendment vote was made during debate of the 2007 Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State spending bill. The full bill passed the House today by a vote of 393 to 23.

http://www.house.gov/list/press/ok03_lucas/englishballot.html