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King County, Washington offers grants to expand language access
$435,000 for 30 different organizations

Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Russian, Somali, Ukranian, Samoan, Japanese and Punjabi are just some of the at least 15 languages other than English spoken in King County, Washington.

While the county is only required by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act to provide voting materials in Chinese and Vietnamese, county law also requires the King County Elections Department to also offer voting materials in Spanish and Korean.

The county also provides materials in non-mandated languages such as Japanese, Tagalog, Khmer and Somali. That still leaves no fewer than 10 languages county voters speak.

In order to maximize impact, King County Elections reached out to partner with the Seattle Foundation to create the Voter Education Fund, a granting program for community-based organizations to provide either a 9-month campaign or series of small events to expand voter education and access. Read more…