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LA County to see additional non-English voting help at the polls in November
Voters in Beachwood Canyon, a Hollywood Hills neighborhood, in Los Angeles, cast their ballots in the California primary election on Tuesday, June 5, 2018.
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LA County to see additional non-English voting help at the polls in November
A new report out Wednesday from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found continuing voting problems for people of color and people with disabilities. The report took a national view, but some of these challenges have been playing out in California.
A California advisory committee conducted its own voting rights investigation and contributed to the national report. Among the local findings: unnecessary obstacles for voters with disabilities and public concern about automated voter registration at the DMV.
Kathay Feng of California Common Cause, which monitors elections, said it’s unlikely Congress will act quickly on the national report’s findings. But California is moving ahead.
In L.A. County, for example, voters will see additional resources in Farsi and Armenian in the November.
"It has a happy spillover effect which is that those communities oftentimes become engaged in the election process and they feel included and therefore turn around and want to cast a ballot," Feng said.
California is known to have some of the most voter-friendly laws in country. But there have been recent issues with roster errors and voter registration mistakes.
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