Hamtramck council hears request to add Bosnian ballots; clerk warns of cost and technical burden

Hamtramck city officials and residents discussed whether the city should add Bosnian-language ballots for upcoming elections, with the city clerk saying state rules and the city—s census numbers determine which languages the city must provide and flagging significant costs and administrative work.

City Clerk Miss Clark told the City Council that the Michigan Voting Rights Act requires the city to provide ballots in Bangla because census figures show Bangla speakers make up about 26 percent of Hamtramck—s population, but Arabic is not a separately reported category in the census and therefore does not trigger automatic coverage. Clark said Bosnian speakers make up about 7 percent of the city—s populationroughly 1,800 peopleand that the group is not automatically covered under the state threshold for required translated ballots.

"We are required by the Michigan Voting Rights Act to do Bangla," Miss Clark said. "So with Hamtramck, our population is 27,000. Bangla is 26% of that. So we understand why we have…