US Elections Ballot Receipt In Hindi Excites Indian Voters

The voters casting ballots in Chicago in the 2016 US Elections walked out with a slip of paper translated from English into three languages. One of them is Hindi. 

 

For decades, Spanish has been a staple on the ballot receipts thanking voters for coming out. In the early 2000s, Chinese began showing up. But the newest addition, Hindi, was added only in 2012.

 

Hindi on voting materials stemmed from U.S. Census Bureau numbers and Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires officials to provide language assistance to minority groups that need it.

 

People quickly started sharing the pictures with ‘Jai Hind’ and some even attributed it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, we found a report by the Chicago Tribune that challenged the claim.

 

It is true that the receipt had notes in Hindi, but it was certainly not the first time. The report said Hindi was added way back in 2012. “Including Hindi on voting materials stemmed from recent U.S. Census Bureau numbers and Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires officials to provide language assistance to minority groups that need it,” the report said.

 

In fact, not just receipts, “Illinois was the first state required by the U.S. Justice Department to offer ballots printed in Hindi,” it added further. Many Indians reside in the state, but there was a major problem before they could finally opt for Hindi, forgoing Urdu or Gujarati.

 

 

But even if this is not the first time, that did not deter people from flaunting the achievement. In fact, many I-Voted stickers, some ballots and precinct signs.

 

Well, while we are not sure if the effort to translate has increased the voter turnout or not, but seeing your mother tongue on official documents of foreign countries is surely exciting.