{"id":25098,"date":"2024-10-29T15:56:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-29T21:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-does-abortion-translate-ballot-measures-are-a-challenge-for-interpreters\/"},"modified":"2024-10-29T21:56:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-29T21:56:40","slug":"how-does-abortion-translate-ballot-measures-are-a-challenge-for-interpreters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-does-abortion-translate-ballot-measures-are-a-challenge-for-interpreters\/","title":{"rendered":"How does abortion translate? Ballot measures are a challenge for interpreters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Artist
Artist Richelle Key works on the painting \u201cDemocracy Is Indigenous\u201d during an Indigenous Peoples Day event Oct. 14 in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin\/Associated Press file)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Reproductive rights measures<\/a> are on the ballots in 10 states after heated debates<\/a> over how to describe their impact on abortion<\/a> \u2013 and that\u2019s just in English.<\/p>\n

In 388 places across the U.S. where English isn\u2019t the primary language among communities of voters, the federal Voting Rights Act<\/a> requires that all elections information be made available in each community\u2019s native language.<\/p>\n

Such translations are meant to help non-native English speakers understand what they\u2019re voting for. But vague or technical terms can be challenging, even more so when it comes to Indigenous languages that have only limited written dictionaries.<\/p>\n

For example, New York\u2019s referendum doesn\u2019t even use the word<\/a> \u201cabortion,\u201d complicating efforts to convey intent \u2013 advocates complain that the official Korean translation means \u201cdrop the fetus.\u201d And how exactly should the science of \u201cviability\u201d<\/a> in the Florida and Nevada measures be explained in the oral traditions of the Seminole and Shoshone tribes?<\/p>\n

The Navajo and Hopi tribes get more material translated than most, and they have more than enough voters to sway outcomes<\/a>. Under a federal court settlement with the Arizona Secretary of State, county elections officials gather community representatives to reach consensus on written translations. Navajo, Hopi and Spanish interpreters then do outreach and create spoken recordings for the touchpads also used by blind voters.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander
Alexander Castillo-Nunez, left, a civic engagement coordinator at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., shows a voter T-shirt at an Arizona Native Vote booth during an Indigenous Peoples Day event Oct. 14 in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin\/Associated Press file)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In most other places, other official English-language material including explanations of the measures\u2019 impacts aren\u2019t getting the same attention, said Allison Neswood, an attorney with the Native American Rights Foundation, which monitors compliance.<\/p>\n

\u201cNative language speakers should have access to all the information that English speakers have, including the language that explains the ballot initiatives,\u201d Neswood said.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander
Alexander Castillo-Nunez, a civic engagement coordinator at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., shows a voter information pamphlet. (Ross D. Franklin\/Associated Press file)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Other tribes have decided against written translations and instead post tribal translators inside polling stations. The law allows this, despite questions about ballot secrecy and potential bias that even the interpreters say can be problematic.<\/p>\n

For example, Colorado\u2019s Amendment 79 seems relatively straightforward: A \u201cyes\u201d vote would enshrine \u201ca right to abortion\u201d in the state constitution.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no single word for abortion in the native language of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe in Colorado\u2019s Montezuma County, whose written dictionary has fewer than 10,000 words, so Ute language teacher Helen Munoz will translate in person on Election Day.<\/p>\n

One phrase describing abortion in Ute means \u201cyour baby, you\u2019re killing it,\u201d Munoz explained. Another points to ending a pregnancy before the embryo develops, as in, \u201cyour baby, before it grows, it\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Voter
Voter information is on display at a Phoenix Indian Center booth during an Indigenous Peoples Day event Oct. 14 in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin\/Associated Press file)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cI would explain to them that that\u2019s what abortion is \u2013 it kills it before it grows into full term,\u201d she said. \u201cI would ask them: \u2018What do you think? You\u2019re the one who\u2019s going into that ballot box to mark the one you want. What do you think?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act requires translations in a county or city where the U.S. Census Bureau has determined that more than 10,000 people are \u201climited English proficient\u201d voting-age citizens who speak the same language, or that these citizens represent at least 5% of the population and their illiteracy rate exceeds the national illiteracy rate.<\/p>\n

Most such places must translate into Spanish. Among states with reproductive rights measures this election, several Arizona counties must provide translations in the languages of the Navajo, Hopi, Apache, Paiute and Pueblo tribes. Other federally required languages include Shoshone and Filipino in counties in Nevada; Seminole in Florida; Ute in Colorado; and Chinese, Korean and Bengali in New York.<\/p>\n

Spanish shouldn\u2019t be that difficult, as it is a Latin-derived language like English, but even these can fail when election administrators depend on computer translations. Attorney Cesar Ruiz says his group, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, pushes for human translators instead. \u201cIt\u2019s a constant work in progress,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Florida, Glades County Elections Supervisor Aletris Farnam said Seminole leaders told her not to bother with written translations \u2013 a decision she wants documented so that she\u2019s covered if compliance questions arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met with the tribe and they told me their language doesn\u2019t convert like that \u2013 they don\u2019t have enough words in their language to write the ballot language,\u201d Farnam said. \u201cSo what I do is hire a Creek translator to work at the polling station where all the Creek vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Munoz knows it\u2019s important to keep her opinions to herself when people are voting. She\u2019s a 76-year-old Ute Mountain Ute elder who said she\u2019s done this elections work for 17 years. Still, cultural sensitivities come into play, and she said Utes tend to be anti-abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur tribe here, we really don\u2019t believe in things like that,\u201d she explained. \u201cThe young kids \u2013 even if something bad happens, they get raped \u2013 it\u2019s up to the mother if she wants to keep it or give it up, but we\u2019re conservative on abortion.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Prop 1 would protect against unequal treatment based on \u201csexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy.\u201d Supporters say this covers abortion. A judge declined their request<\/a> to make the official English description say so explicitly. Official translations are using the word anyway.<\/p>\n

Because the characters in the official Korean version translate roughly to \u201cdrop the fetus,\u201d civic engagement coordinator Lucky Ho with the Asian American Federation says the group\u2019s own materials instead use symbols that mean \u201cstopping the pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., has an Arizona Native Vote booth at an Indigenous Peoples Day event on Oct. 14 in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin\/Associated Press file)<\/span>dur-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a more respectful way of talking about the body of the woman who is undergoing the experience,\u201d Ho explained.<\/p>\n

New York City goes beyond the federal mandate by also requiring translations in Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Polish, Russian, Urdu and Yiddish. Literal word-for-word translations don\u2019t make sense in some of these languages, according to Asher Ross, a senior strategist for the New York Immigrant Coalition, which tried it in Creole.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe phrase \u2018pregnancy outcomes\u2019 doesn\u2019t really translate, was the feedback we got,\u201d Ross said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how the final translation looked, but they did their best.\u201d<\/p>\n

While some elections departments struggle to meet language requirements, Coconino County, Arizona, covers much more ground. It hires tribal interpreters and sends a mobile unit to remote Navajo and Hopi gathering places, first to register voters and explain what\u2019s being voted on, and then later to accept their ballots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they need language assistance, they can go there and get it,\u201d said the county recorder, Patty Hansen. \u201cYou can\u2019t mail the interpreter, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

technical terms can be challenging, especially when it comes to Indigenous languages<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[266,28,1097,308,299,1655,629,547,1621],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-25098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-indigenous-people","tag-local-elections","tag-national-elections","tag-navajo-nation","tag-southern-ute-indian-tribe","tag-ute-mountain-ute-indian-tribe","tag-voting"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25098"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=25098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}