New Jersey Voters Registration Forms Now Available in Arabic
SOURCE: TAPINTO
CLIFTON, NJ – The efforts of The Palestinian American Community Center’s (PACC) Civic Engagement Team to engage more Arabic speakers in the voting process for the upcoming 2019 state elections and 2020 Presidential election took a big step forward on May 29 when it was announced that New Jersey’s voter registration forms became available in their native language for the first time.
According to US Census Bureau Data, over 67,000 New Jersey residents live in a household where Arabic is spoken, and Arabic-speakers consistently make up nearly one percent of the state’s population, PACC said in a statement.
“Throughout this process it really showed that our elected officials are on our side, advocating with us and allying to take action and produce a truly effective result,” said PACC’s Civic Engagement Coordinator, Sarah Frey.
Previous to the decision, the statement continued, voter registration forms were available in ten different languages: English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Gujarati, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Punjabi, Hindi, and European Portuguese.
“Many other communities fought for their right to register to vote, whether they speak English or not. The PACC is proud to have contributed to providing this resource for the larger Arabic-speaking communities of New Jersey,” said Rania Mustafa, Executive Director of the PACC.