WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- Hispanic and Indian lawmakers in Arizona say they are opposed to a new $44.7 million voting-system plan because it does not address bilingual concerns.
The lawmakers, who sent a letter Tuesday to Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer expressing their concerns, said they would be meeting with federal officials to discuss their objections.
"We need to recruit more bilingual election workers to help the mostly monolingual voters," said Rep. Steve Gallardo, a Democrat and one of 15 legislators who signed the letter.
The legislators' complaints, a top Brewer aide told the Arizona Republic, are "premature, false and based on incorrect assumptions." Brewer's office, said Kevin Tyne, is committed to revising the voter-registration form in English and Spanish and enhancing the online voter-registration in both languages.
Arizona has so far received $7 million from the federal government to pay for improvements in the voting system. Part of that money has been spent to replace antiquated punch-card machines in nine rural counties and to set up a statewide voter-registration system.
