Why KCK Mayor Garner is joining over 1,000 Wyandotte residents in asking for language access

For 18 months, Wyandotte County community members and local organizations have called on Election Commissioner to make voting easier for voters who speak a primary language other than English. 

This week, Mayor Tyrone Garner and Unified Government Commissioner Melissa Bynum joined them, and we delivered a petition signed by over 1,000 people calling on Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Election Commissioner Michael Abbott to provide multilingual voting materials. 

It’s extraordinary that Abbott doesn’t already provide multilingual voting materials. In Wyandotte, where over 50,000 residents speak a primary language other than English, numerous government agencies, businesses, and public accommodations provide translated signage and other materials. 

Ballots can be confusing even if English is your first language—by providing materials in Spanish Schwab and Abbott can prevent people from relying on undependable sources for help deciphering the materials or worse, not voting at all. 

While Commissioner Abbott has taken the first steps of translating parts of the website, he has at the same time expressed the concern that providing Spanish materials would mean groups that speak other languages might file lawsuits.  

Let’s dispel this falsehood: counties across the country voluntarily offer Spanish voter materials or bilingual election workers, including nine other Kansas counties.  

Meanwhile, there has not been a single local or national example of a lawsuit over providing this language access, much less one where a court ruled against providing this access. 

What we have seen is that with better language access comes an increased ability for eligible voters to participate, and a benefit for election officials who are better able to improve compliance with the Voting Rights Act. 

It’s exciting that Mayor Garner and other elected officials are advocating for their constituents by advancing a resolution in support of language access. But the ultimate decision is in the hands of Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who appoints the Wyandotte Election Commissioner. 

Join the movement and tell Schwab and Abbott that Wyandotte needs language access. 

Our democracy is strongest when every eligible voice is heard. Help make that happen in Wyandotte County.