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Multilingual ballot design – Comparative overviewCEO Appearance on the study on Indigenous languages on ballots before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

Background

  • International, Provincial and Territorial Relations Division (IPTR) has prepared this note to facilitate discussion on providing ballot papers in multiple languages in Canada.
  • This document provides a comparative overview of multilingual ballot design and the experiences in selected jurisdictions with providing ballots and related election materials in multiple languages.

Overview

  • Most countries provide ballots only in their official language(s); in the majority of countries means only a single language.
  • Some officially bi/multilingual countries use ballot papers in multiple languages, either printing multiple languages on the same paper or providing separate ballot papers for each official language.
  • Designing multilingual ballots has been recognized as challenging; in some countries this is mitigated through the use of electronic voting machines, symbols, and pictures.
  • The USA has perhaps the most expansive legal requirement for providing multilingual ballots. Under certain conditions, jurisdictions are required to provide ballots in multiple languages.
  • In 2007, the US federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) issued guidelines on developing effective voting materials, including ballots. The EAC recommended that one language be used per ballot when using a digital interface and no more than two languages simultaneously on paper. They also noted the importance of hiring translation and cultural experts to ensure quality.
  • A 2017 report from the Center for Civic Design noted that there is little research on effective ballot design in multiple languages beyond the EAC guidelines. The report highlights key challenges as: ensuring community awareness and buy-in, providing quality translations in case of dialects, fitting multiple languages within a limited space, and treating languages equally.

Examples from other jurisdictions

Nunavut

  • Nunavut's Official Language Act stipulates that the Inuit language (Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun), English, and French are the official languages of the territory.
  • Election Nunavut provides all election information materials in all official languages of Nunavut as required by subsection 5(2) of the Nunavut Elections Act.
  • Section 6 of the Nunavut Elections Act stipulates that election officers should be appointed to represent the languages spoken in the community in which they will be performing their functions. It also stipulates that where a deputy returning officer or poll clerk does not understand the language spoken by a voter, an interpreter shall be appointed.
  • The Inuit language is not a standardized language, neither in spoken nor in written forms.
  • Elections Nunavut asks candidates (on the declaration of candidacy) to provide how their name should appear on the ballot in two languages, which can include given name initials and/or commonly used nicknames. Candidates are also encouraged to provide their name in the Inuktut used in their community (Inuktitut syllabics in all communities except Kugluktuk and Cambridge Bay).
  • The order in which candidates write their name in two languages on the declaration of candidacy is the order in which it will appear on the ballot.
  • Elections Nunavut is not responsible for transliterating candidates' names into syllabics on their ballots.
  • As there are no territorial political parties in Nunavut, ballot papers only list candidates' names as provided by the candidates in no more than two languages.
  • Applications and instructions for special ballot are also available in all official languages of Nunavut.

United States

Overview

Experiences with Native American and Alaskan Native languages

South Africa

  • There are 11 official languages in South Africa, with English used as the main language of government.
  • Voter information is available in all eleven languages but ballot papers are not multilingual; Section 68 of the Electoral Act empowers the Independent Electoral Commission to determine in which language ballots are printed.
  • Ballot papers include the full name of each party in English, the party logo, acronym, and a picture of the party leader.
  • The Electoral Commission commissioned research on ballot paper design in 2018 which showed that voters used the party logo as the primary distinguishing identifier to select their candidate. 

India

  • Hindi is the official language of the state in India, with English as a "subsidiary official language," and 22 scheduled languages recognized by the Constitution.
  • Individual States can specify their own official language(s) through legislation.
  • Since 1998, India has used handheld electronic voting machines (EVMs), rather than printed paper ballots.
  • Casting a ballot through an EVM is done through a column of buttons on the machine which correspond to a printed list of candidates pasted onto the machine for each constituency.
  • This printed list includes the candidate name and corresponding symbol of the candidate's party.
  • Voters press the button aligned to the candidate of their choice. A receipt with a symbol is issued to assure the voter that their vote matched their choice.
  • Symbols were introduced in the first elections in 1951 due to high levels of illiteracy and have remained the primary means by which voters identify the party and candidate they choose.
  • The Election Commission of India is responsible for determining in which language to print the list of candidates and the symbols for each party.
  • The determination on printed languages is based on the majority languages and scripts of each constituency, though ballots often include English and Hindi in addition to any local language.

United Kingdom

  • Bilingual election materials, including ballot papers, are required in Wales under the 1993 Welsh Language Act.
  • In 2017 bilingual ballots in Welsh and English were implemented for local elections, later expanded to a range of elections in Wales, including the Welsh Parliament and police commissioners.
  • The UK Election Commission established the Welsh Language Advisory Group in 2017 to bring election legislation, guidance, and materials in line with legal obligations.
  • The Election Commission has published guidance on printing bilingual ballots with Welsh and English on the same paper.