MICHIGAN, DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, GREAT LAKES & ENERGY: Voter education event in Arabic is first in series

By Press release submission

Sep 29, 2020

Michigan, Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy issued the following announcement on Sept. 25.

DOS Language Access Task Force supporting voters and residents across the state

Arabic speakers are invited to join a virtual voter education event today hosted by the Michigan Department of State Language Access Task Force. The 6 p.m. event is the first in a series that the task force will hold in numerous languages in the final weeks before the Nov. 3 election. Residents interested in participating can go to bit.ly/YemeniVote

“I am grateful to the task force for their work to ensure all citizens across the state have equal access to our elections," said Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. "Every citizen has a right to know that Michigan elections are safe and secure, accurate and accessible."

Voter education events in other languages are in the final stages of planning, and will be announced soon on Michigan Department of State social media accounts.

The Task Force is also assisting with the translation, creation and distribution of various documents and videos to ensure people learning English have access to all MDOS services. They are focusing their efforts on creating materials and events in languages spoken across Michigan, including Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Hindi, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Tagalog, and Urdu. Additionally, they have partnered with Global Michigan to recruit multilingual election workers and are promoting the national voter hotlines available in Arabic and Spanish.

Secretary Benson convened the Task Force in May. It is comprised of over 50 community organizations across the state that have worked with non-English speaking communities for decades. More information is available at Michigan.gov/SOSPartnersInDemocracy by clicking the button for “Language Access.” The Task Force is continuously growing, to get involved, please contact MDOS Public Engagement Associate, Bilal Hammoud, Hammoudb@Michigan.gov

Original source can be found here.