FORT WORTH, Texas _ A political party isn't a "fiesta." In Spanish, such an organization would more likely be called a "partido."
That mistaken translation was among the examples provided by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has filed a complaint that alleges Tarrant County and 16 other Texas counties are breaking federal voting laws in the way that they provide information for Spanish speakers.
The use of "fiesta" in translation was in Refugio County in South Texas, the ACLU reported. But Tarrant and other counties had many other examples of phrases that were translated incorrectly, organization officials said.
"Accurately translated materials are critical to protecting Texans' right to vote," Edgar Saldivar, senior staff attorney for ACLU of Texas, said in an email. "We're hoping that addressing the inaccuracies well in advance of the election will allow counties ample time to correct the misinformation. Counties need to do their part to protect the most fundamental right in our democracy."
ACLU officials sent demand letters to officials in those 17 counties, saying they had found possible violations of the Voting Rights Act, which requires accurate translations. Translation is required in counties where the voting age population has more than 10,000 Spanish speakers with limited English proficiency, or in areas where Spanish-speakers make up more than 5% of the voting age population.
In Tarrant County, the ACLU letter alleged in a letter to elections administrator Heider Garcia that "voting information on the Elections page maintained by your office is only accessible in Spanish via a discreet Google Translate link or does not have Spanish language links corresponding to all the links for information provided in English."
"In light of the upcoming elections, and Tarrant County's significant Spanish-speaking voter population, we are greatly concerned by these deficiencies," the ACLU wrote.
Tarrant County officials declined to comment on the allegations, spokeswoman Regina Calderon said in an email. Garcia also declined to comment.
Possible violations were found in 69 counties, but only the counties with the worst errors were sent the ACLU letter.
The incorrect Spanish information included voter identification information, key voting dates, voter registration information and applications for ballot by mail and absentee voting, the ACLU said.
The Refugio County example used a translation tool that changed the English phrase "Party Chair" into Spanish as "presidente de fiesta," instead of "presidente de partido." Other counties used language describing a runoff election with Spanish phrases for "leak" and "drainage," the ACLU reported.
Refugio County has a has a population that is 51% Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The other counties who received letters included: Atascosa, Bailey, Brooks, Calhoun, Floyd, Hockley, La Salle, Lynn, Martin, Reeves, Terry, Titus, Upton, Webb and Zavala.
