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After public comments, commission asks Election Commission to provide multilingual referendum materials
Summary
Following a large public comment turnout, the Shelby County Commission passed a resolution asking the County Election Commission to provide referendum materials translated into Spanish and, by amendment, the top five local languages; the mayor's office and UT translation partners were identified as possible collaborators.
A large public-comment turnout centered on Item 27, a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Erica Sugarman asking the Shelby County Election Commission to provide Spanish-language materials for county referendums. Dozens of residents, bilingual deputy registrars and language-access advocates spoke in favor of translations at a 4th-grade reading level and urged expansion to other common local languages.
Commissioners amended the resolution to require translations into the top five languages spoken in Shelby County (including Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic and Mandarin) and to encourage collaboration with the Tennessee Language Center and CTAS/UT language-collaboration services — both of which staff said can provide services at no cost to the county. The resolution passed on a recorded vote.
