Elections staff nationwide are increasingly leveraging technology to improve voter accessibility, an area that has challenged officials for more than a decade. Now, the advance of language translation technology presents new opportunities for access to civic participation.
“It’s helping the limited English proficient (LEP) voters feel included in our government and our electoral process,” Sosebee said. “And it’s going to bring unity, and I think, respect of cultural backgrounds.”
The county, she said, is eager to see the impact on voter turnout from the new option to select Spanish on the ballot marking device. Offering Spanish language ballot access is not a mandate for the county, but rather a voluntary decision. Ad Astra was chosen from the state’s approved translation vendors, enabling the county to jump into defining the project's scope rather than starting with a request for proposal process.
The project required staff to commit extra time to ensuring the Spanish language translation was clear and accurate, Sosebee said, and she visited the election center in person with a linguist, who helped proof the ballot and signage.
As the nation becomes more diverse, so does the state of Georgia and the counties within it, the director said: “And so it’s crucial that we ensure that everyone can participate in the [electoral] process.”
The ACC Board of Elections has informed county election officials this work may expand to include other languages in the future.
Sosebee advised other government entities looking to expand language access to be open-minded about the process and learn from other counties and states that are moving towards multilingual ballots and other accessible voting processes.
“You want to start looking at your state demographics, because that right there is going to give you an idea of what type of language that you need to start preparing for,” she said. “Be proactive.”
Language access technology is not limited to language translation, Ad Astra founder and CEO Elena Petrova said. She described the company, which started its work in the government sector, as a “one-stop solution for any language access and multilingual communication.” This covers a range of solutions including translation, interpretation, different hearing services, and other language needs governments might have to better communicate with constituents.
Petrova said that for government, the most significant barrier in meeting language needs is budget constraints, especially since COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts have required significant financial investment. However, she emphasized that Title VI explicitly prohibits discrimination based on national origin.
“We do not have a state language, and no matter where we come from, we have to have equal access to information,” she said, emphasizing more than 350 languages are spoken in the U.S.
Governments can access data through Ad Astra platforms about demographic information, Petrova said, to inform community planning and budgeting.
A significant number of Americans are LEP — 8 percent of people age 5 or older living in the U.S., according to analysis of the 2021 American Community Survey. Petrova underlined the importance of these individuals having the same information as the rest of the population when it comes to elections; and she noted that helping government improve communications will make them more successful in their missions to serve constituents.
With the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, Petrova said she expects AI-powered language access solutions to become increasingly popular. AI is an important tool, she said, but to effectively use it to serve communities, a human relationship powered by trust is critical.
