NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Tuesday the United States Department of Justice Voting Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division and Napa County Registrar of Voters John Tuteur signed a memorandum of agreement to improve access to the electoral process for Spanish-speaking citizens who need language assistance to cast an effective ballot.

The agreement is meant to ensure compliance with provisions of the Voting Rights Act that require the county to provide bilingual election materials and information in Spanish to voters.

The memorandum of agreement was negotiated during the past five weeks and included two meetings with staff from the Voting Rights Section, one in Napa and the other in Washington DC.

Two main targets of the agreement are to provide bilingual election materials in a combined document to all voters and to have bilingual poll workers at all polling places and vote by mail assistance centers for the Nov 8 Presidential General Election and all future elections.

“Napa County has fully cooperated with the DOJ since we became a dual language county under Section 203 of Voting Rights Act in October 2011. We work hard to ensure all voters have access to election materials that they can understand,” said Tuteur. “The Registrar of Voters with the full support of the Board of Supervisors is committed to continuous improvement in outreach to the Spanish language community for all future elections.”

The Voting Rights Act requires that jurisdictions determined by the Census Bureau to have a substantial population of minority-language citizens with limited English proficiency, such as Napa County, provide voting materials and assistance in the minority language as well as in English.

“The right to vote forms the foundation of our democracy, and language barriers should never keep eligible voters from accessing that right,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This agreement ensures that Napa County’s eligible Spanish-speaking voters can access the election process and participate in our democracy by casting effective ballots. The Justice Department commends Napa County for resolving the issue quickly and cooperatively.”

Napa County already has hired a bilingual elections coordinator to assist in implementing the Spanish language elections program.

The county has also established an advisory group of interested community members and organizations to assist the county in determining how to most effectively provide election information and assistance to Spanish-speaking voters.

To assist in ensuring the effectiveness of the agreement’s bilingual assistance procedures, the agreement provides that Justice Department election monitors may monitor during training and early voting as well as on Election Day.

To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, voters may contact the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Complaints also also be filed online here .

More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting rights laws can be found on the Justice Department’s Web site at www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/ .