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Election Web site now features Spanish
The site has a voter registration form and voting instructions in Spanish. Sample ballots in Spanish are not available yet.
By ADRIENNE P. SAMUELS
Published May 23, 2005
Pinellas County's election Web site, www.votepinellas.com now features all of its pages in Spanish. The change cost $10,000, but officials said it will be worth the cost if it helps Spanish-speaking voters breeze through the voting process.
"In the 2000 Census, the county's Hispanic population more than doubled," said Lori Hudson, deputy administrator with the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections office. "As you get to a certain threshold, some counties have to provide materials in other languages."
The move becomes even more important as the Hispanic voting block grows in power in states such as Florida, where 18.5 percent of the state's 17-million population is Hispanic. The latest figures available show Hispanics made up about 6 percent - or 50,000 - of the county's population in 2003, according to a census survey.
Pinellas is something of a Johnny-come-lately when it comes to Spanish-language materials. Other Florida counties, including Miami-Dade, have been offering government materials in such languages as Spanish and Creole for years.
Having voter information in Spanish and Creole helps demystify the process, said Hudson.
"As you get to a certain threshold, some counties have to provide materials in other languages," Hudson said. "We feel like we had a growing Spanish speaking population that we wanted to serve."
Some of the new additions to this Spanish language Web site include a voter registration form and voting instructions in Spanish. Sample ballots are not yet available in Spanish but will come soon, Hudson said.
Spanish speakers can get help by calling the election office. However, current touch screen voting machines have yet to offer a Spanish option.
--Adrienne Samuels can be reached at 445-4157 or samuels@sptimes.com
[Last modified May 23, 2005, 01:23:18]
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