YORK, Pa. — CASA York will hold a press conference today to celebrate an agreement with the York County Board of Elections that enhances the services for Spanish-speaking York County residents who want to vote.
The agreement comes after years of advocacy, reforms and even a lawsuit. Organizers say this agreement will increase voter turnout and knock down barriers for the Spanish-speaking community who want to vote.
“We create the change through the memberships, through the power building, through opportunities which allow our members to feel empowered in the democratic process,” said Nkeshi Free, deputy communications director of CASA.
The agreement includes election offices across York County having bilingual sample ballots available for reference both online and in-person at polling locations, posted signs in Spanish at voting precincts that say “Spanish voting services available,” and Spanish-English paper ballots so any voter who needs a Spanish-language ballot may use the touchscreen voting machine to cast a ballot in Spanish.
“Residents have expressed that they have the right to choose who will represent them, and this is the only way that they can choose their representatives… these are situations where they have to feel confident in what their choice is,” said Mirna Gonzalez, organizing director of CASA York.
In 2022, Latino Justice PRLDEF and Dechert LLP filed a complaint in the federal district court on behalf of CASA against the board of elections in York County for failing to provide Spanish-language materials and assistance to voters as required by the Voting Rights Act.
“They have the Spanish education, but they also have struggled a lot to be able to vote; some of them are not even interested in voting because they don’t feel comfortable with the English language,” said Gonzalez.
The press conference today will celebrate the agreement between the two organizations and the York County Board of Elections. The event steps off at 11 a.m., and the public is welcome to join.