DEARBORN (WXYZ) — For the first time, the August ballot will be made available in an Arabic translation in the city of Dearborn.
In March, the idea initially got some push-back from the city clerk's spouse.
City councilman Mustapha Hammoud, who proposed the idea, said it's a first for any municipality in the state of Michigan and went through a rigorous legal process.
“Allowing people to independently go into the poll and read the ballot themselves and understand it themselves as opposed to having to rely on let's say an election worker -- that was a big concern," he explained.
Hammoud said, "Election workers were overwhelmed with requests from people who they wanted to help but they couldn’t.”
He said the concept applies to any group that makes up 5% or more of the city’s population or 10,000 or more residents. About 47% of Dearborn are Arab American and speak Arabic at home, according to the latest Census data.
“We saw that there are other states that have passed laws that kind of cover some of the holes in the Voting Rights Act, and there are examples of other municipalities taking these types of steps," Hammoud explained.
"So I just felt that in a city where I have data that shows me that substantial portions of the populations have difficulty or are still learning English, it’s important that we provide them with some additional accessibility," he said.
To address concerns of the quality of the translation, Hammoud said a translation committee will validate the wording to ensuring the language is consistent with modern standard Arabic.
