Candidate barred from ballot for bad English

[misterman]

No, not the kind of bad English you see on these threads every day, or the hilariously ironic misspelled signs by idiot protestors calling for English to be our official language.

English isn't this lady's first language, and apparently that can keep you off the ballot in Arizona.

The funny thing is that in her town, probably more people speak Spanish than English.

Arizona woman off ballot after high court agrees her English isn't good enough – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

“When he took my right to be on the ballot, he took away the right of the people who want to vote for me,” Cabrera said after the judge's initial ruling.

 

[99percenter]

Good. Someone explain to me how a native born US citizen doesn't know any english?

 

[1Perry]

Wow, a complicated story. First, I find it sad that someone can graduate from a High School in the U.S. and can barely speak english after that education.

That said, I do not know of any requirement that a person must be able to plainly state in english what high school they went to, to run for office. As far as I can tell, she meets the requirements.

I can see where her lack of speaking english might be a hinderance to her ability to help her constituants if she was to be elected, but I don't think that allows us to stop them from running.

Locally we have a person that runs constantly. He has a speech impediment that makes it very hard to undertand him. He's still permitted to run.

 

[misterman]

Good. Someone explain to me how a native born US citizen doesn't know any english?

She does know English.

Read the story to find out why she's not that good at English. That's what the link is for.

 

[misterman]

Locally we have a person that runs constantly. He has a speech impediment that makes it very hard to undertand him. He's still permitted to run.

Good point - should we bar deaf people who can't talk and express themselves in English, but need a sign language interpreter to both talk and listen?

 

[Temporal]

Whether or not we think someone "should" speak English as a candidate, it doesn't change the fact that a natural born U.S. citizen was just denied the right to run for politics for completely arbitrary and unconstitutional reasons. There is nothing in U.S. law that says English is our official national language, so forcing a candidate to adhere to that is unethical and unlawful.

It's too late for her to do much about it for this election, but she can certainly take it to the higher courts to get this absurd **** struck down.

 

[Mycroft]

I agree with the judge.

In the video, I couldn't understand half of what she was saying. I THINK she meant "maybe" when she said "mayee"...but who knows for sure.

Definitely not city council material.

 

[misterman]

I agree with the judge.

In the video, I couldn't understand half of what she was saying. I THINK she meant "maybe" when she said "mayee"...but who knows for sure.

Definitely not city council material.

The voters should decide, not you or a judge.

Ironic how some people freak out when a judge substitutes his judgement for the voters, huh?

 

[99percenter]

She does know English.

Read the story to find out why she's not that good at English. That's what the link is for.

She should be good at english. I don't know a single person born and raised in the US that doesn't know fluent english.

 

[99percenter]

The voters should decide, not you or a judge.

Ironic how some people freak out when a judge substitutes his judgement for the voters, huh?

Not everything should be decided by voters. If that was the case we would would still have slavery and jim crow laws.

 

[liblady]

No, not the kind of bad English you see on these threads every day, or the hilariously ironic misspelled signs by idiot protestors calling for English to be our official language.

English isn't this lady's first language, and apparently that can keep you off the ballot in Arizona.

The funny thing is that in her town, probably more people speak Spanish than English.

Arizona woman off ballot after high court agrees her English isn't good enough – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs

goddamned stupid ****ing az judges. shameful.

 

[iliveonramen]

goddamned stupid ****ing az judges. shameful.

It's stupid and shameful but good in a way....these deeply Conservative states are showing Conservatives true colors...

 

[1Perry]

It's stupid and shameful but good in a way....these deeply Conservative states are showing Conservatives true colors...

Because "liberal" states never make bad rulings. :roll:

 

[tessaesque]

Hey, look at that...this goes all the way to the federal legislature:

In 2006, Arizona passed a law that made English the official language of the state. Nearly a century before, in 1910, Congress passed the Enabling Act, which allowed Arizona to become a state with certain requirements. Among them was one that addressed the English language.

"The ability to read, write, speak, and understand the English language sufficiently well to conduct the duties of the office without aid of an interpreter shall be a necessary qualification for all state officers and members of the state legislature," a section of the act reads.

Some info on the Enabling Act of 1910:

The much-debated Enabling Act of 1910 provided for New Mexico and Arizona to become separate states. The final debate over the act was the appropriation for irrigation projects in the territories.

Generally, Republicans supported statehood for New Mexico, while Democrats opposed it. As a Republican paper in overwhelmingly Republican Northern New Mexico, The New Mexican took a distinctly pro-statehood editorial position.

The Enabling Act of 1910 set into motion the constitutional convention of October that year, when 100 delegates from all over New Mexico met in Santa Fe. The state constitution was approved by territorial voters on Jan. 21, 1911.

Arizona's new state constitution also was drafted in 1910, but Taft vetoed it on Aug. 15, 1911, because of its provision for judicial recall which, Taft thought, violated the separation of powers. That meant Arizona would have to wait until Feb. 14, 1912, to become the 48th state.

And this, diretly from the act:

Fifth. That said State shall never enact any law restricting or abridging the right of suffrage on
account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and that ability to read, write, speak, and
understand the English language sufficiently well to conduct the duties of the office without the aid of
an interpreter shall be a necessary qualification for all state officers and members of the state
legislature.

 

[1Perry]

Hey, look at that...this goes all the way to the federal legislature:

Wow, seems that the judge was correct in his ruling. It is nice to have all the information. We can argue the Act but by reading this information it would appear that the judge was likely just doing his job by upholding it.

I have no problem with making English an official language. I'm not so sure that making it so over rides a citizens right to run for office. I'm still siding that it shouldn't.

 

[tessaesque]

Wow, seems that the judge was correct in his ruling. It is nice to have all the information. We can argue the Act but by reading this information it would appear that the judge was likely just doing his job by upholding it.

I have no problem with making English an official language. I'm not so sure that making it so over rides a citizens right to run for office. I'm still siding that it shouldn't.

I understand the premise behind the stipulation in the 1910 act, but I'm not sure it would hold water if it got all the way through the appeals system...but the original law suit was brought up in defense of that legislation, not Arizona's....which is the key point, I think.

 

[misterman]

She should be good at english. I don't know a single person born and raised in the US that doesn't know fluent english.

Read...the...link.

I know plenty of people born and raised and educated here who speak crappy English, including a few on this forum.

 

[misterman]

goddamned stupid ****ing az judges. shameful.

It's not the judge, it's the law.

 

[kenvin]

You have freedom of speech as long as you speak how we tell you to.

 

[misterman]

Arizona está lleno de pendejos estúpidos.

 

[VanceMack]

huh...interesting situation.

"Cabrera was able to tell her attorney her name and where she was born but struggled with what school she had graduated from, according to the Yuma Sun. After being asked the question three times, without being able to answer in English, the judge allowed Cabrera to leave the witness stand and issued his ruling"

One can see how this might make for some difficult Town Hall meetings. Still...seems to me that there should be a better solution to the 'problem' than just denying her access to the ballot...

 

[1Perry]

You have freedom of speech as long as you speak how we tell you to.

Boy, we certainly do have many examlpes of that.

 

[Aunt Spiker]

Good heavens - someone needs to meet my Aunt and listen to her talk: having never lived outside Louisianna a day in her life but doesn't sound like she's speaking ANY English. You know the guy from Waterboy? She talks like he does. So hard to understand her but an American through and through.

Heavens people - it's more along the lines of an 'accent' - and odds are she might not win anyway . . . and unless there's an express written rule or legislation governing something being able or not able (etc etc etc) - you can't just legislate from the bench and say 'well I make up this rule for right now because it suits me'

Someone should look into his past and see what else he's legislated from the bench.

 

[1Perry]

Good heavens - someone needs to meet my Aunt and listen to her talk: having never lived outside Louisianna a day in her life but doesn't sound like she's speaking ANY English. You know the guy from Waterboy? She talks like he does. So hard to understand her but an American through and through.

Heavens people - it's more along the lines of an 'accent' - and odds are she might not win anyway . . . and unless there's an express written rule or legislation governing something being able or not able (etc etc etc) - you can't just legislate from the bench and say 'well I make up this rule for right now because it suits me'

Someone should look into his past and see what else he's legislated from the bench.

As seems to have been pointed out, he was not legislating from the bench. He was enforcing current laws.

 

[99percenter]

Im a naturalized US citizen. I immigrated to the US with my parents when i was 14. All cultures come here from around the world and have no problem assimilating. It seems like many Latinos have a problem doing that. I don't want to sound xenophobic but i think the onus should on them to learn our language and not vice versa.