Officials, voters, and community groups celebrated passage of Malden transliteration law on December 15, 2022. It marked a significant step towards ensuring full access to the ballot box for Chinese-speaking voters with low English proficiency. According to a 2021 American Community Survey, 22% of Malden households speak an Asian or Pacific Island language at home. About 40% of these households are considered to have limited-English speaking proficiency.
Officials included Malden Mayor Gary Christenson, Massachusetts Senator Jason Lewis, Massachusetts State Representative Steven Ultrino, Massachusetts State Representative Paul Donato, Massachusetts State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian, Malden City Councilor Amanda Linehan, Councilor Steve Winslow, Councilor Carey McDonald, and Kelsey Perkins with Congresswoman Katherine Clark’s Office.
Organizations included Asian Pacific Islanders Civic Action Network (APIs CAN); Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition (GMAACC); Chinese Progressive Association (CPA); Greater Boston Legal Services Asian Outreach Unit; Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC); Massachusetts Voter Table; Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).
Some historical context is important to consider here. Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1975 noted that “through the use of various practices and procedures,” those who did not speak English had been effectively excluded not only from the ability but also the accessibility to voting. In other words, not everybody had a seat at the table. Not only did this provision in the Voting Rights Act guarantee transliterated ballots in primary and general elections, but also all written aspects of the voting process. Written material must be accurately translated and oral communication (especially in areas where literacy is low) must meet the needs of its target group.
For Cantonese and Mandarin speaking voters in Massachusetts, accessibility to voting and feeling represented is especially important. Boston only started to provide paper ballots in English, Mandarin, and Vietnamese in 2006 but it wasn’t until 2014 that former Governor Deval Patrick signed legislation into law. That act guaranteed that ballots would be provided in English, Chinese, and Vietnamese in towns and municipalities where more than 5 percent of the voting age population were members of that language minority. As recently as 2018, during the October 30 early voting day at the Wang YMCA in Chinatown, paper ballots were not offered in Chinese.
The city of Malden has been taking other steps to ensure Chinese-speaking voters have full access to the ballot box over these past four years. This past election, Malden provided bilingual interpretation at every precinct; conducted extensive voter outreach among the Chinese-speaking population; and created a hotline for live support if interpreters are unavailable. With the passage of a home rule petition, Malden is now authorized to provide candidate names transliterated from English letters to Chinese characters – making it the second Massachusetts city to do so after Boston. Malden already provides bilingual ballots with all instructional information in Chinese and English.
Malden Mayor Gary Christenson spoke to this reporter: “Today I am here to receive an early Christmas present which is the passage of Malden’s own transliteration bill and I just couldn’t be happier for everyone who was involved. This included Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition, Chinese Progressive Association, ACDC, and the Chinese culture connection. Everyone has played a part in making today a reality, thank you for you all!”
State Representative Steve Ultrino added: “I believe the bill is very important because it allows Asian American to be able to have the right to vote and understand the name of the ballot. In Massachusetts, we want to make sure everyone has the right to vote and no barrier to voting.”
City Councilor Carey Mcdonald reflected on the importance of the day: “It has been a beautiful morning to see the community support for the Transliterate ballot in Malden. We want everyone who is here to feel like their community and their voice is heard. And It’s been years of work from GMAACC (Greater Malden Asian American Community Coalition) and lots of Asian American organizations in Malden and across Massachusetts to help Malden become the second city where this is possible in Massachusetts, but we won’t be the last. A lot of appreciation to everyone who brought us here and there is much work to do to make sure that Chinese speaking residents and residents who speak so many different languages in Malden come from all over the world really feel like they can participate fully in this community.”
68 years Mary Xu, 80 years old Mrs. Liang and her daughter Janny, representative of GMAACC Ping Pong Club in Malden said, “We are attending today’s event because of the celebration of the Passage of Malden Transliteration Law. We love Ping Pong and practice here from 9am to 2pm every Monday to Thursday. We are very happy to be here to support this event and we believe this bill can help a lot of people in the Asian communities.” A highlight of Senator Jason Lewis’s speech came when he noted that the “…true meaning of democracy is that no matter your background, language, skin color, or ability, you should be respected. This is real democracy.”
