[LINK] On what happened with Dolores Huerta, Bernie Sanders, and a Nevada crowd

[rfmcdonald]

In "Neither side was quite right on that Dolores Huerta ‘English-only’ shout-down", Washington Post journalist Janell Ross looks at the scandal. Consider myself unimpressed by the standards of Sanders' supporters here.

First off, neither Huerta, the precinct's permanent chair nor the precinct captains for Clinton and Sanders could be reached for comment Sunday. Nevada Democratic Party officials, who oversee the caucuses, have yet to respond to requests for comment about events or procedure. Ferrera also declined to comment.

Second, this video really does not indict Huerta of the bias alleged by Sanders supporters; it's easy to see why she felt abused and upset after being shouted off the stage. Nor does it completely clear the Sanders supporters of all the allegations against them; some of the comments that are clearly audible in it amount to more than bad public behavior.

[. . .]

The Voting Rights Act requires that translated voting materials and language assistance or interpretation services be made available in areas with a certain concentration of voters with limited English proficiency. Clark County, Nev., which includes Las Vegas, is one of those places. It has been since the 2000 Census.

Voting is serious, and goodness knows that the caucus process is unique. So making sure that people fully understand what is going on at a given event and don't have the added burden of rapid personal interpretation is only common sense. Federal funds were provided to states to do so under the Help America Vote Act and to study the best methods. Nevada is not an exception.

The reasons for these laws are clear -- so clear that the applause and excitement as the English-only decision was made at the Harrah's Casino caucus Saturday perhaps did strike some people, including Huerta, as highly inappropriate.

Whether intended or not, those applauding effectively sanctioned a process that allowed qualified voters who do not speak English, or who are Spanish-dominant, limited insight and influence in the evening's events.

Some people at the caucus gathering may have been singularly focused on what they viewed as the risk of a Clinton supporter interpreting events for all Spanish-speakers in the room. But then, at the very least, they shouted an 80-plus-year-old woman off the stage for what they believed to be political bias. That is not a moment of which to be proud.