Alaska Native speakers have every right to have the ballots they are asked to vote on translated into language they understand so that they can cast informed votes. So do English speakers. Because if informed voting is not the basis of our democracy, then I don’t know what is. I don’t pretend to know how to solve this problem, but I’d like to request that if and when any given ballot is translated into an Alaska Native language in a simple and understandable form, can the state please translate the simple form back into English and send it to me. Because just once before I go off into the sunset, I’d really like to say I understood the gobbledy-gook I find on my ballot. Or maybe the answer is to simply have the ballots printed with all the legal words and then a simple couple of sentences in everyday English at the end that explains what all the craziness above it means. And to all those heroic translators out there who are trying to span two worlds and explain concepts that never existed in their traditional world, kudos for doing an often thankless and extremely difficult job.Get the Story:
Elise Patkotak: Hats off to Alaska translators of ballot issues; heaven help you (The Alaska Dispatch News 7/8)
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