Flaherty calls for Chinese ballot translation

Boston City Councillor Michael F. Flaherty is joining the chorus calling for the complete translation of election ballots into Chinese in certain precincts.

Secretary of State William Galvin recently raised questions about transliterating the names of candidates into Chinese characters, saying that it was an arbitrary process that could lead to confused translations.

But Flaherty says that making the ballots completely bilingual is crucial.

"We should be spearheading efforts to eliminate language barriers that have hampered the voting process," he said in a statement. "Instead some are pushing a system that unfairly penalizes those citizens who do not have a firm grasp on the English language. How can we defend the current electoral system when we have thousands of Chinese-Americans unable to comprehend the candidates for which they can vote?"

Activists from Boston's Chinese community descended on the State House today to ask Galvin to fully transliterate the ballots.