JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SETTLES VOTING RIGHTS LAWSUIT
WITH VENTURA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that it has entered into a consent decree with Ventura County, California, settling allegations that the county had violated the voting rights of Spanish-speaking voters.

Federal law requires that jurisdictions with a substantial minority-language voter population provide certain voting materials, such as ballots, registration or voting notices, forms, instructions or other materials, in the minority language as well as in English. According to determinations made by the Census Bureau, Ventura County must provide these materials in Spanish. The government’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court, charged that the county failed to do so.

“The Voting Rights Act requires the county to make these materials and information available in Spanish, and today’s agreement accomplishes that,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. “This settlement reflects our commitment to protecting the voting rights and ballot access of all Americans.”

The consent decree, which still must be approved by a three judge federal court, requires that the county take the necessary steps to comply with federal law. It also permits the Justice Department to monitor future elections in Ventura County.

The Civil Rights Division has launched a major initiative to ensure compliance by each jurisdiction covered under the minority language provisions of the Voting Rights Act. Since January 2004, the Division has announced agreements protecting Spanish-speaking voters in San Benito County, California; Suffolk County, New York; and Yakima County, Washington. The Division has also announced agreements protecting Vietnamese-speaking voters in Harris County (Houston), Texas; Navajo and Pueblo voters in Cibola and Socorro Counties, New Mexico; and Spanish, Tagalog (Filipino), and Vietnamese-speaking voters in San Diego County, California.

To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931. More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice website at www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm. <http://www.usdoj.gov>

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