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What was Beverly Hills afraid of, Xerxes of Persia? The film '300' broke box office records three days after the municipal elections (King Xerxes at right).

Outrage in the City

Translated ballots ought to have a unifying effect on the population.

By Margarita Hirapetian
LALA Reporter

When Beverly Hills City Clerk Byron Pope decided to publish the city's absentee and sample election ballots in Persian and English for the March 6, 2007, elections he hardly thought he would be sparking outrage. Within a week Pope had fielded approximately 300 complaints from both Iranian- and American-born residents. No complaints were filed against a third language, Spanish, also present on the ballots.

Why were so many Beverly Hills residents offended by a decision that should have been viewed as a democratic service? Angelenos have become accustomed to seeing signs and directions translated into two or more languages on store fronts, in museums, and in airports. Most of Chinatown's banners are in Chinese, and Echo Park billboards are almost exclusively in Spanish. In West Hollywood, ballots and informative pamphlets are printed in Russian.

Translation was not at the heart of the outrage in Beverly Hills. With Middle Easterners still experiencing a post-9/11 backlash and U.S.-Iranian relations worse than at any time since the 1980 Hostage Crisis, the display of Persian script on the ballot cover ignited political tensions. Meanwhile, some residents of Iranian descent were put off because the majority of them are perfectly comfortable in their knowledge of the English language, the older adults having learned English when they came to the States beginning in the 1970s. Professor Hossein Ziai, director of Iranian Studies at UCLA, says via email, "I think a lot of Iranian-Americans living in L.A. know English well enough to be able to make out a ballot written in English. I also believe that new immigrants should make serious efforts to learn English, the official and also the common language of our democracy."

Although most Iranian immigrants to Los Angeles are confident with English, there is nothing wrong with translating ballots if it promotes voter participation and helps even a few people understand what they're voting for. Translated ballots should have a unifying rather than divisive effect on the population. It's a service that encourages citizens to be citizens. Adds Professor Ziai, "I believe that the state and government in democracies should do everything to encourage voter participation, and if translating ballots will help, then why not?"

As Ziai's comments illustrate, two contrary yet all-American sensibilities are at work in the issue of ballot translation. Both teaching English and making voting easy and accessible to all citizens should be high government priorities. But where there's a perceived conflict, ballot access must ultimately trump cultural assimilation. If translating ballots is one way to encourage voting, then I say translate early and translate often.

Date Posted: 5/31/2007