Spanish ballots are needed at the polls

This past Friday the Moring Journal published a story concerning the Spanish ballots that will be available for those who wish to vote, and thus express their government protected right.  Unfortunately the online comments shared by Journal readers were unveiled and the perspectives some people believe to be in the past came to the forefront.

The comments, which stated the Spanish ballots should not be available, centered around one basic argument that Spanish reading citizens should learn to read and comprehend English if they want to vote or, the government should not be spending tax dollars on providing Spanish ballots.

In fact, the Lorain County Board of Elections is only conforming to what is law, enforced by the Department of Justice.  The Voting Rights Act, signed into law by then President Lyndon B. Johnson had a small provision in it, which allowed those of Puerto Rican descent living in the United States to have voting materials in their native language.  During that time, a flood of Puerto Ricans came to the United States, including Lorain County; they were recruited by steel mill management to work along the great lakes for lower wages and longer hours during a time when people like Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were in the news protesting civil rights injustice.  Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and others of Spanish ancestry have made steel based cities like Chicago, Lorain, and New York what it is today.  

In 1917, the Jones-Shafron Act gave the natives of Puerto Rico U.S. citizenship, which was the first heavy migration to the states.  Not only are Spanish ballots needed, not only is it law, the implementation of Spanish ballots is a moral statement that should remind people of the origins of our country and the original purpose of its existence.