Arizona Candidate Struck From Ballot Over English Skills

Late Wednesday night a Yuma County Superior Court Judge ruled that Alejandrina Cabrera, candidate for the city council the the border community of San Luis, Arizona should be removed from the ballot because she did not speak English proficiently. The ruling came after the San Luis City Council approved a motion on Jan. 13 asking for verification that Cabrera meets the requirements of a state law that any person holding office in the state, county or city must speak, write and read English.

The ruling has sparked controversy over what “proficient” means, especially for border communities and residents like San Luis and Cabrera.

As part of the removal process Cabrera had to be evaluated by linguists. In this case, the linguist, William G. Eggington, a professor at Brigham Young University in Utah testified that based on his interviews and tests Cabrera had “basic survival level” English. The judge concluded this was enough to warrant removal from the ballot since those skills likely fell below what is needed to participate in city business.

Cabrera and her lawyers are considering an appeal of the decision.

What do you think? Should states have English-proficiency requirements for elected leaders?

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Read more: 2012 elections, arizona, english only, immigration

Photo from HowardLake via flickr.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Martin R.

7:36PM PST on Feb 14, 2012

Haven't we enough examples of 'idiocy' in our elected officials already? Ehhh, what's one more; it's only Arizona? Or Washington D.C. Or one of 49 other states.

send a green star

Dee C.

6:00PM PST on Feb 2, 2012

How easy it is to fail the proficiency test? Was it just oral or written test or both? What about the evaluator? Was he a disinterested party with no political axe to grind? What is that state's definition of "English-proficiency"? I'm a native English speaker who would probably fail that test if a Professor of English evaluated me because of my frequent erroneous use of "affect" or "effect" and an unwise use of commas. This does not pass the "fishy" test.

Nancy L.

8:51AM PST on Feb 1, 2012

Yes, they absolutely should have to read, write and speak English well to hold office. Period.

Elizabeth K.

9:07PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

Hi Joe, I agree on the language statements.

My friend who tried to teach me to speak Japanese, said I did better than most because I talk so fast - most Americans put too many pauses in. All languages are fascinating.

English is one of the most difficult, because we have so many words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and mean different things. Also the sentence construction is really not very logical. But at least our nouns are neutral, not masculine or feminine like so many other languages.

Sam T.

8:49PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

I am not saying dyslexia is evil! I am upset because she made it sound like just because someone has dyslexia they are stupid or bad! (Yes, Bush is stupid and bad in my eyes!) Most can still read and write, they just have to work harder at it! I am saying you can have dyslexia and still provide the world with positive change!
Yes, spelling Bush as "Bash" was a typo! I can spell.

7:45PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

@Sam T.

"Elizabeth that is a horrible evil thing to say! You should be ashamed! Bash IS an idiot to a whole new level, but his being dyslexic has NOTHING to do with it! Thomas Edison, Alexander Gram Bell, and Albert Einstein were all dyslexic too! AND you spelled it wrong!!!!"

Why was that horrible and evil? You said it about Edison and Einstein.
And you spelled Bush wrong, or was it perhaps just a typo.

It's not the disability, it's how people deal with it, and how hard they work to overcome it. Dyslexia is not evil. I was merely pointing out that Bush would have had difficulty with a standardized test. By his own admission.

joe M.

7:24PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

Elizabeth: No dispute between us. I do concur that inability to speak the language hinders the individuals job prospects. That's the reason when in Roman do like the Romans. However, as consolation I will add this; English and Spanish are the only two languages that can be spoken (buchered) and still can be conversed. No other langauge has this latitude. If it's not spoken precise they can understand you. Except for the French, their ignorance demands that you speak it precise or they will not converse.Forget about Chinese that's another dimension.

George B.

6:12PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

Elizabeth, those people all have an education. Most are over educated fools,that lie, cheat and bribe their way into politics. That is what they teach in higher education. They understand the constitution but choose to ignore it, for most of them its Greed driving them. We in America started out electing the common man who could spare the time and wanted to protect the common peoples interest. Now it is only rich people who could care less about the common people. We have a primary election to weed out the undesirables, but are sold to the elite. The general election is where the rich or want-a-be rich vote Republican and the common people (workers) vote to help the poor. But the system is broken and you can not trust either party. It is a rich mans game, poor people don't have a chance. We have Hope of a better tomorrow and hope our vote will change things.

John K.

6:04PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

We need an English Only Amendment to the constitution before the entire country is Balkanized. Senator S.I. Hayakawa; the US Senator from California, and of Japanese descent; 30 years ago proposed this so that government publications and communications at all levels would have to be in English. If you want to see what happens when more than one language is given sanction; just look north to Canada, where the arrogant French speaking minority have divided the country and cost it many billions of dollars to comply with all kinds of inane language regulations.

4:57PM PST on Jan 29, 2012

Elizabeth that is a horrible evil thing to say! You should be ashamed! Bash IS an idiot to a whole new level, but his being dyslexic has NOTHING to do with it! Thomas Edison, Alexander Gram Bell, and Albert Einstein were all dyslexic too! AND you spelled it wrong!!!!