Translating Information Into Voter Turnout

Lana Nguyen knows that good translations from one language to another involve a lot of nuance. For example, encouraging people to get out the vote in Vietnamese is dangerously close to the phrase commonly used to tell people they’re pregnant.

“So we have to be careful on those,” Nguyen says.

It’s a delicate but crucial job. Even though thousands of Vietnamese-speaking voters live in central Texas, their numbers are small enough that official election materials are not translated into their language. Finding ballot information can be a challenge for many. But Nguyen is helping spearhead a volunteer effort to translate voter guides into Vietnamese.

“I'm trying to educate them,” Nguyen says. “Hopefully they will be … we call it a well-informed voter.”

Nguyen teams up with the League of Women Voters Austin Area to translate their voter guides. Gretchen Otto is a volunteer with the League and helps produce the guides. She says they had translated material into Spanish for years, but they were inspired to expand their efforts after the Houston branch started producing their own voter guides in Vietnamese.

“The Vietnamese speaking community in Houston is large enough that they are required to have their ballot be printed in Vietnamese and Chinese, and so the Houston League then wanted to expand their voters guide to match,” Otto says. “So they paved the way.”

The Austin League has been producing a voter guide in Vietnamese for eight years now, but Otto says there was a steep learning curve. They worked with a professional translation service based in Vietnam, but they didn’t understand the specifics about American politics. The League needed someone who understood the election landscape.

“That's when Lana from VACAT reached out to us and said, please, I want to help you with this translation,” Otto says.

VACAT stands for Vietnamese American Community of Austin, Texas. Nguyen is the president of the organization whose mission is to support the local Vietnamese community. Nguyen says that includes everything from helping people navigate healthcare programs to cultural events and sharing information on voting. She says many older residents struggle to find information in their native language. Nguyen herself says she struggles at times to locate information to share with them.

“I can see that's a challenge,” Nguyen says. “But I wish the whole state of Texas and the United States would work with the community and say, hey, do we have a resource to help with this?”

The Voting Rights Act requires states offer language assistance to voters, but only if certain thresholds are met. The total number of ‘limited english proficient’ voters speaking the same language must be at least 5% of the county population. According to U.S. Census data, Vietnamese speakers make up about 3.5% of the population in Travis County. They also make up a large contingent of the Rundberg community–roughly 2,000 residents trace their heritage to Vietnam. But Otto says no matter the size of the population, having voting information in a language voters are comfortable with is crucial.

“It makes a huge difference in how well they can understand what's on the ballot, for sure,” Otto says. “Especially when it comes to ballot measures like propositions, which are so hard to understand even if you're a native English speaker.”

Nguyen sees it all as a step towards getting her community the resources they need.

“I say, by you going out to vote, that gives us the number, that gives us the voice.”

You can access the League of Women Voters Voting Guide in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese at Vote411.org.