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65 N.Y.U. Ann. Surv. Am. L. 323 (2009-2010)
The Patchwork of State and Federal Language Assistance for Minority Voters and a Proposal for Model State Legislation

handle is hein.journals/annam65 and id is 333 raw text is: THE PATCHWORK OF STATE AND FEDERAL LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE FOR MINORITY VOTERS AND A PROPOSAL FOR MODEL STATE LEGISLATION BRIANJ SUTHERLAND* In the final analysis it doesn't really matter what the political system is ... we don't need perfect political systems; we need per- fect participation.1 INTRODUCTION There is much to be hopeful about with respect to voting rights for racial and language minorities and American democracy in the twenty-first century. For example, since the first passage of the Vot- ing Rights Act of 1965 (VRA),2 the percentage of African Ameri- cans, Latinos, and other communities of color registered to vote has increased dramatically.3 These increases in registration have led naturally to greater participation among and representation of these communities at every level of government throughout the United States.4 In 1964, there were approximately 300 African * Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Southern Regional Office and Voting Rights Project, Atlanta, Georgia; J.D. summa cum laude, Seattle University School of Law, 2006; B.A. cum laude, University of Washington, 2003. The author sincerely thanks the editors and staff of the New York University Annual Survey of American Law for their assistance, and his colleagues at the Voting Rights Project, especially Katie O'Connor, and the ACLU, especially James Thomas Tucker, whose intellect, talent, and commitment to language minority voting rights have laid the foundation for scholarship in this area and contributed immeasurably to the protection and promotion of the fundamental right to vote for language minority citizens. 1. Quotes by Cesar Chavez on Public Action, http://clnet.ucla.edu/research/ chavez/quotes/pa.htm (last visited Oct. 16, 2009). 2. Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pub. L. No. 89-110, 79 Stat. 445 (codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973-1973bb (2006). 3. For example, Black registration rates in Louisiana more than doubled be- tween 1965 and 1988, and skyrocketed more than 350% in Alabama during the same period. BERNARD GROFMAN, LISA HANDLEY & RIcHARD G. NIEMI, MINORITY REPRESENTATION AND THE QUEST FOR VOTING EQUALITY 23-24 (1992). 4. See Lisa Handley & Bernard Grofman, The Impact of the Voting Rights Act on Minority Representation: Black Officeholding in Southern State Legislatures and Congres- sional Delegations, in QUIET REVOLUTION IN THE SOUTH: THE IMPACT OF THE VOTING RIGHTS Acr, 1965-1990, 335 (Chandler Davidson & Bernard Grofman eds., 1994). 323 Imaged with the Permission of NYU Annual Survey of American Law

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