Stop printing ballots in Spanish, Arizona candidate for secretary of state says

Dustin Gardiner | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption How to register to vote in Arizona's upcoming elections Congressional reporter Ron Hansen details all the info you'll need to know going into the next election.

Steve Gaynor, a Republican running for Arizona secretary of state, said last weekend that the United States should stop printing ballots in any language other than English.

He made his comments Aug. 11 during a GOP candidate forum in Wickenburg. Patriot Movement AZ, a right-wing protest group, posted a video of the event on Facebook.

Gaynor is challenging incumbent Secretary of State Michele Reagan in the Aug. 28 primary. In Arizona, the secretary is the state's chief elections officer and its No. 2 elected official — first in line to succeed the governor.

Gaynor owns a printing business in Los Angeles that produces pamphlets for elections in California.

"My printing plant in LA printed an information pamphlet not too long ago. It had 18 languages on it," Gaynor told the Wickenburg crowd in response to a question about non-English-language ballots.

The crowd booed. One woman audibly gagged.

He continued, "I would be the first to say it should be ... ballots, information pamphlets, all the material in our country, should be in English."

Video note: Gaynor's comment about non-English-language election materials starts around 2:07:30.

Federal election law

A key provision of the Voting Rights Act requires some voting jurisdictions to provide election materials for minority language citizen groups.

Under the act, 10 of Arizona's 15 counties must provide voters with ballots and election pamphlets in a language other than English. The requirement is based on U.S. Census data demographics in those counties.

There are roughly 900,000 voting-age Arizonans who can receive a ballot in another language as a result of the law, Census data shows.

Four counties — Maricopa, Pima, Yuma and Sana Cruz — must provide election materials in Spanish. Six largely rural counties must provide materials in either Navajo or Apache.

During the Wickenburg forum, Gaynor explained that he supports repealing the federal law.

"We need to do one thing to solve this problem, have 60 Republican senators who have the guts to vote the way they need to vote," he said.

Gaynor clarified in an interview with The Arizona Republic that he supports the right of Native Americans to vote in "their native language" because their lands are sovereign.

Although Gaynor didn't specify in his initial comments, he said Tuesday that each state should be able to decide if it wants to conduct elections exclusively in English. He said Arizona shouldn't have to print materials in Spanish.

"I think it should be up to the states to decide what they want to do with regard to their voting materials," he said. "But I think the faster any immigrant learns English, the quicker they assimilate into American society."

Reagan: He's pandering

Reagan released a statement Tuesday evening accusing Gaynor of pandering to far right-wing groups. Gaynor, who describes himself as a "100 percent pro-Trump guy," has cast himself as the conservative alternative to Reagan, a moderate-leaning Republican.

“It’s unfortunate that Mr. Gaynor has chosen to pander to extreme nationalist groups regarding an issue that the secretary of state has little or no jurisdiction," Reagan said.

Gaynor's campaign strategist, Brian Seitchik, fired back, calling Reagan's statement "the last gasp from the most incompetent secretary of state in modern Arizona history."

Seitchik reiterated that Gaynor would comply with federal election law if he's elected.

Recent polling suggests Gaynor has a solid lead against Reagan, who's suffered from election-related missteps during her tenure. He has poured more than $1 million of his money into the race.

The forum wasn't the only time Gaynor has made comments critical of language-assistance programs for voters.

He told the same story about his Los Angeles printing plant during a Jun. 20 forum hosted by the Palo Verde Republican Women. Again, he mentioned that the information pamphlet had 18 languages.

"Hope to God that never happens in Arizona," he said.

Thank you to the @PaloVerdeGOPWmn for inviting me to today's meeting. Thank you Cheryl Pelletier and Diana Tull for organizing! pic.twitter.com/e02tnFgqPX — Steve Gaynor (@realSteveGaynor) June 20, 2018

Ballots in voters' first languages

State Sen. Katie Hobbs, D-Phoenix, who is running for secretary, said Gaynor's comments are worrisome. She said Arizona's elections chief should help eligible voters access the ballot, not impede them.

"Off the bat talking about restricting that access is concerning," Hobbs said. “I think his comments really speak for themselves."

Maggie Acosta is the leader canvasser for CASE (Central Arizonans for a Sustainable Economy), a progressive advocacy group that works to increase Latino voter turnout.

She said Spanish-language materials are crucial because many voters who speak and read English still prefer to cast a ballot in their first language given the ballot often contains complex initiatives.

“A lot of the people are willing to (vote), yet they are afraid that they’re going to make a mistake on something," Acosta said. "They get discouraged and they’d just rather not vote."

She said many voters are relieved when she tells them they can get ballots and pamphlets in Spanish, adding, "It’s a thing of satisfaction for me when I see the smile on their faces."

Reach the reporter at dustin.gardiner@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-2471. Follow him on Twitter @dustingardiner.

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