Why Hispanics in 6 Wisconsin municipalities can request additional services when voting

WISCONSIN (CBS 58) -- In the state of Wisconsin, six municipalities currently have a significant Hispanic population, which means that when voters show up at the polls, they must be offered additional services if they request them to better understand what's on the ballot.

As part of the U.S. Department of Justice, there are 'Language Minority Provisions' within the Voting Rights Act, which mandates that a state or political subdivision must provide language assistance to voters if more than 5% of a single-language minority group does not speak or understand English adequately enough to be able to cast their vote.

In Wisconsin, the following jurisdictions fall under that category: Abbotsford, Arcadia, the village of Curtiss, Milwaukee, the village of Sharon and the village of West Milwaukee.

Extra services may include a translator, bilingual poll workers and even the option of casting a ballot in Spanish.

Congress mandated language minority ballots in some jurisdictions in 1975 but the method of determining which regions must provide these materials didn’t actually become law until 1992. And still, not a lot of people know of this federal policy.

"And I'll be honest, there's times when I go to vote, I have to read a sentence one, two or three times to make sure I get it right and that I'm voting for the person I intend to," said Darryl Morin, the president and chairman of Forward Latino. "There's a lot of confusion that can happen sometimes at the ballot place and English is my dominant language."

Morin said his non-profit organization is making sure everyone eligible is able to vote and make their voices heard, and if they find a violation or a site does not adhere to this law, they will be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"We've had...so many court cases and litigation happen with regards to what municipal clerks are able to do and not do recently, here, in the state of Wisconsin, so we think it's all that much more important that everyone make all the materials available, as required by law in both English and Spanish, to eliminate any potential confusion or potential source that could grow into litigation," he said.

Voters can always prepare beforehand and do some research online in their preferred language. You can also reach out to non-profit organizations such as Forward Latino for help.

If your dominant language is Spanish and want resources in Spanish, Click Here.