City Council approves bilingual ballot petition

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff/file 2005)

Voting information was written in Chinese and a sample ballot in Chinese and English was posted outside a polling place in Chinatown in 2005.

By John C. Drake, Globe Staff

The Boston City Council unanimously approved a petition today asking state lawmakers to pass a special law requiring election officials to translate all candidates' names into Chinese on city ballots.

The approval occurred over the objections of Secretary of State William F. Galvin, who says translating names could lead to confusion, and the city's chief elections official who said it would be difficult to translate the names in time for the November election.

The city already translates the names of candidates for local elections into Chinese characters. The measure expands the requirement to candidates for state and federal office. The petition now needs the approval of Mayor Thomas M. Menino before going to the Legislature.

"I along with the support of all of my colleagues, thousands of Chinese who live in this country, and the billion-plus Chinese who live around the world, would respectfully disagree that doing transliteration would be more hurtful than helpful," said Councilor Sam Yoon, who sponsored the measure.

The Globe reported today that the measure seeks to preserve the gains Asian-American voters have made after a 2005 settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, which had sued Boston over alleged voting rights violations. That agreement, which expires this year, requires Boston to provide bilingual ballots in Chinese and Vietnamese, as well as other measures. Boston started printing the ballots in areas with high numbers of Chinese and Vietnamese residents. Last year, city officials decided to "transliterate" candidates' names on the ballots into Chinese characters.

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