Hispanic voters: Resolve problems

One official said poll workers who speak other languages must be hired.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Spanish-speaking residents say they encountered a number of problems Election Day -- some that prevented votes from being cast.
A lack of Spanish-speaking poll workers, no Spanish ballots and names missing from voter lists were among the complaints in Cuyahoga County.
Cleveland City Councilman Nelson Cintron Jr., who was born in Puerto Rico, intends to meet with county elections director Michael Vu to discuss the problems.
"We need more Hispanics at the polling locations," Cintron said. "And not only Hispanics. If we look around the entire city and all of Cuyahoga County there are different cultures coming into our area who need help."
Vu said he wants to work with Hispanic and other groups to make voting accessible to as many people as possible.
"I definitely understand it," Vu said. "My parents have the same issues. They're first generation and English is their second language." Vu's parents immigrated to the United States from Vietnam.
What's a priority
Hiring poll workers who speak other languages, he said, is a priority. More sophisticated voting machines, which the state will switch to in coming years, should make it easier and less expensive to provide ballots in a number of languages.
"We will definitely invest resources in recruitment and making sure that poll workers have the characteristics of their communities," Vu said.
A professor from the University of Illinois in Chicago listed several grievances with international monitors after volunteering at a heavily Hispanic precinct on Cleveland's West Side.
"These were Puerto Ricans and they didn't have Spanish ballots," said Irma Olmedo, who spent Election Day translating and providing other help at three precincts. "I was just appalled. How can that be? These people are U.S. citizens."
Puerto Ricans gained citizenship in 1917 and have the right to vote for president if they live in the United States.
What the law says
Federal law says election material and assistance must be offered in other languages if more than 10,000 people, or 5 percent of those old enough to vote in a community, speak that language.
In Ohio, no counties qualify. Cuyahoga County has a total Hispanic population of 3.6 percent, according to 2003 census estimates.
Angel Pagan, director of the Ohio office of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, said a handful of voters complained to his office Election Day that their names weren't on precinct lists even though they had registered to vote.
In each case, Pagan tried calling the elections board to determine what went wrong, but was put on hold for long periods of time, he said.