Media Contact: [email protected]
California Legislature Votes Overwhelmingly to Pass AB 884, Expands Language Protections at California Ballot Boxes And Now Heads to Governor Newsom’s Desk
Following decisive votes by the California Senate and Assembly, voters are closer than ever to ballots in their preferred language
SACRAMENTO – The California Legislature has passed AB 884 with bipartisan support co-sponsored by the Asian Law Caucus, California Common Cause, and Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans. The bill affirms California’s enduring commitment to an inclusive, multiracial democracy and would help California voters receive votable ballots and registration forms in the languages they use and prefer by 2028. AB 884 now heads to Governor Newsom, who has until September 30 to sign it. Our collective organizations commend Assembly Members Low and Cervantes for their leadership in advancing this crucial voting rights legislation. We urge Governor Newsom to sign AB 884 and uphold California’s values of equity and belonging.
California has the nation’s highest proportion of households that speak a language other than English at home. Yet, federal and state laws have not kept up with the state’s growing and diverse population. As a result, many eligible California voters cannot fairly and equally cast their ballot.
“We run California’s largest nonpartisan poll monitoring program to help ensure voters are able to use hard-won protections for language and disability access at the polls, and still we know many are blocked from full and fair participation in our democracy,” said Deanna Kitamura, voting rights managing attorney at the Asian Law Caucus. “AB 884 would use proven solutions towards creating a democracy that represents all of us, whether we speak English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Arabic, or Farsi.”
“In a state as diverse as California, it's not just a goal but our duty to ensure that every eligible voter can fully participate in our elections,” said Pedro Hernandez, legal and policy director for California Common Cause. “AB 884 is a practical, common-sense step to make sure that language is a bridge, not a barrier, to building an accountable, representative, and inclusive democracy.”
Asian and Latine communities are more likely than other communities to cite language as a barrier to being voters. When language assistance is provided, research has shown that voter participation increases. In San Diego County, for example, voter registration rose by more than 20% for Filipino Americans and by almost 40% for Vietnamese Americans when the county started providing translated voting materials and recruiting bilingual poll workers.
Amid attacks by some extremist politicians on the basic tenet of democracy—the right to vote, AB 884 would help more voters get meaningful access to ballots in their language, including Spanish in seven counties and Chinese in two counties. Under the bill, voters who use Amharic, Arabic, Farsi, Pashto, and Russian would have language access protections for the first time.
"AB 884 is a critical step in ensuring that languages like Somali, Oromo, Arabic, and Amharic, which are excluded from federal law, are recognized and supported in our voting process," said Rahmo Abdi, Director of Organizing and Campaigns at the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans (PANA). "This bill is essential to ensuring that voters can cast their ballots privately in a language they understand."
AB 884 is co-authored by Assemblymembers Evan Low and Sabrina Cervantes and is supported by dozens of civil rights and pro-democracy organizations across the state, including AAPIs for Civic Empowerment Education Fund, ACLU California Action, Asian American Advancing Justice-SoCal, California Black Power Network, CAIR-CA, CHIRLA, Chinese for Affirmative Action, Disability Rights California, Initiate Justice, the League of Women Voters of California, MALDEF, and NALEO Educational Fund.