Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill announced the launch of a Multilingual Virtual Poll Worker system in a Tuesday press release. The system, according to Merrill, will “eliminate language and cultural barriers and make it easier for people to cast their ballots and make their voices heard.”
The multilingual system is an on-demand solution that can help voters in more than 250 languages and dialects. The system improves the voter experience for people whose primary language is not English, as well as voters that require American Sign Language for easy communication, according to the press release.
Voters and poll workers can quickly connect with high-quality interpreters through phone and video calls.
“Removing language barriers to voting ensures every Connecticut citizen has a seat at the table of democracy,” Secretary of State Denise Merrill said in a statement. “This solution allows voters and poll workers to communicate with interpreters in real-time, making the voting process easy and accessible for every voter.”
The Office of Secretary of State has launched the language solution to “provide a simple and easy way for voters and poll workers to communicate, giving voters greater confidence in the election process,” according to the press release. The technology may also eliminate delays that can occur due to limited resources, the press release notes.
The multilingual system is provided through a partnership with Inclusion Solutions. Inclusion Solutions helps businesses and state and local governments comply with the ADA and more effectively serve people with disabilities. Offering more than 350 products to create environments that are easily accessible to everyone, Inclusion Solutions’ products are designed and sourced to make accessibility simple for any organization, according to the company.
According to data collected by the state, 22.5 percent of Connecticut citizens are speakers of a non-English language, which is higher than the national average of 22 percent. The three most common languages spoken among those non-English speakers in Connecticut include Spanish (12.3 percent), Portuguese (1.15 percent), and Chinese (0.95vpercent).
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Connecticut Star and The Star News Network.
Photo “Denise Merrill” by Maryland GovPics CC BY 2.0 and photo “poll workers” by OSCE Parliamentary Assembly CC BY-SA 2.0.
