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Padilla v. Lever

The full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, by 14 to 1, overturned an earlier decision by a three-judge panel that found the privately circulated petitions must be translated into languages other than English, where a significant number of non-English speaking voters reside.

The decision is here (33ppg, .pdf).

How this nets out locally, in Monterey County, is that the Community General Plan Initiative and a referendum seeking to stop development of Butterfly Village, both in the Rancho San Juan area, may now go to the general ballot, without having been seen by any registered voters who are not politically comfortable, unassisted, in English.

In his dissent, Judge Harry Pregerson said the right to vote "is inextricably tied to the right to petition and petition signatures are treated the same as votes for constitutional purposes." Judge Stephen Reinhard concurred with the majority, but wrote that use of English-only petitions is "inconsistent with the purpose of the Voting Rights Act". The rest, well, they all are very comfortable in English.

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