“Why Should I Go Vote Without Understanding What I Am Going to Vote For?” The Impact of First Generation Voting Barriers on Alaska Natives
“Why Should I Go Vote Without Understanding What I Am Going to Vote For?” The Impact of First Generation Voting Barriers on Alaska Natives
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“为什么我应该在不了解自己要投票什么的情况下去投票？第一代投票障碍对阿拉斯加原住民的影响”
DOI：
10.36643/mjrl.22.2.why
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发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Erin Lynch
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Tucker;N. Landreth;Erin Lynch
本文探讨了阿拉斯加长期存在的多种形式的歧视，阿拉斯加原住民选民因此面临的第一代投票障碍，以及为使阿拉斯加四个地区的这些选民获得一定程度的平等而历经的两起备受争议的诉讼：尼克诉贝瑟尔案（Nick v. Bethel）和托尤卡克诉特雷德韦尔案（Toyukak v. Treadwell）。最终，在托尤卡克案中，法院的判决仅基于对两份证据的对比：其一，说英语的选民收到的官方选举手册往往长达100多页；其二，说阿拉斯加原住民语言的选民仅收到一张纸，上面只包含选举的日期、时间和地点，以及一条他们可申请语言协助的通知。将这两份证据放在一起对比，就凸显出在投票方面存在的根本性不平等。以下详细阐述的从尼克案和托尤卡克案中汲取的教训同样简单：第一，第一代投票障碍在美国依然存在；第二，《选举权法案》第203条不允许说美洲印第安语和阿拉斯加原住民语言的选民获得的信息少于说英语的选民。这些案件中的选民本应在40年前就享有平等权利，但他们却不得不通过两起联邦诉讼，历经近十年抗争才争取到。
This article explores the many forms of discrimination that have persisted in Alaska, the resulting first generation voting barriers faced by Alaska Native voters, and the two contested lawsuits it took to attain a measure of equality for those voters in four regions of Alaska: Nick v. Bethel and Toyukak v. Treadwell. In the end, the court’s decision in Toyukak came down to a comparison of just two pieces of evidence: (1) the Official Election Pamphlet that English-speaking voters received that was often more than 100 pages long; and (2) the single sheet of paper that Alaska Native language speakers received, containing only the date, time, and location of the election, along with a notice that they could request language assistance. Those two pieces of evidence, when set side by side, showed the fundamental unequal access to the ballot. The lessons learned from Nick and Toyukak detailed below are similarly simple: (1) first generation voting barriers still exist in the United States; and (2) Section 203 of the VRA does not permit American Indian and Alaska Native language speaking voters to receive less information than their English-speaking counterparts. The voters in these cases had been entitled to equality for 40 years, but they had to fight for nearly a decade in two federal court cases to get it.