Question about non-English-speaking voters

[Bandit3 the Worker]

People keep talking about how Obama did better in polls that make calls in Spanish, but my question is this: Are there actually any American voters who do not know English?

There are lots of immigrants who do not speak English, but do they vote? Remember, you have to be a citizen to vote, and you have to know English to be naturalized. So are there really that many American voters who don't know any English?

[LastVoter]

People keep talking about how Obama did better in polls that make calls in Spanish, but my question is this: Are there actually any American voters who do not know English?

There are lots of immigrants who do not speak English, but do they vote? Remember, you have to be a citizen to vote, and you have to know English to be naturalized. So are there really that many American voters who don't know any English?

Born in US, moved to a non-english speaking country, moved back to US.

[morgieb]

Probably not many, but I'd reckon there'd be plenty who aren't really fluent in English.

[milhouse24]

A lot of older grandparents get citizenship but can't speak much English besides the basics; and they can't read English either.

[J. J.]

Speaking from both family experience and those of coworkers/neighbors, it is fairly common for people to speak English as their primary language (as adults) where their parents/grandparents spoke another language. 

We actually had a woman in our office who was Hispanic and was assigned to a position because everyone assumed she could speak Spanish; she didn't speak a word of it.

Spanish would either be recent immigrants (who might not fluent) or older people, as noted.

I would wonder if there are some places in the Southwest where Spanish is basically the first language in the community.

[Likely Voter]

Well there is a difference between not being able to speak English and being more comfortable in Spanish. About 13% of Americans speak Spanish at home, the numbers are obviously concentrated more in states like CA, TX, AZ, NV, NM, FL, even NY. A good number of them can speak English but prefer to vote in Spanish as that is their stronger language

[Stranger in a strange land]

I would wonder if there are some places in the Southwest where Spanish is basically the first language in the community.

There are, but in most of these places, at least those born or raised in the U.S., can speak English.

There are lots of immigrants who do not speak English, but do they vote? Remember, you have to be a citizen to vote, and you have to know English to be naturalized. So are there really that many American voters who don't know any English?

You have to know some English to be naturalized as a citizen, but many naturalized citizens aren't truly fluent.

[後援会]

You can get ballots in non-English languages in many states. It's not that hard.

[J. J.]

You can get ballots in non-English languages in many states. It's not that hard.

My voter registration card was sent in English and Spanish. 

[Bacon King]

For the record, you don't always have to demonstrate proficiency in English in order to become a US citizen. If someone is over 50 years old and has been a permanent resident at least 20 years (the 50/20 exception), or if someone is over 55 and has been a permanent resident for at least 15 years (the 55/15 exception), then they're allowed to take the civics test in their native language if their English isn't good enough (and they can use an interpreter for the citizenship interview and such). IIRC there's also medical exemptions for permanent residents with disabilities that prevent them from being able to learn English.

I have no idea how many people gain citizenship without knowing English, but I can't imagine it's that many. I also doubt that many of them would vote, anyway.

[Adam Griffin]

There's more than you might think. I had a guy come to our county's voter registration drive and had to instruct him in Spanish on how to fill out the form. He had both a driver's license and a U.S. passport.

[minionofmidas]

I would wonder if there are some places in the Southwest where Spanish is basically the first language in the community.

Lots of them. These are mostly rural people, though - but they mostly do speak English. Still quite a lot of elderly Native Americans in the Southwest whose English is quite rudimentary (and the last entirely monoglot Navajo will probably die some time this decade).
Yup'ik also remains entrenched as the first language of all the smaller communities on Alaska's West Coast, though the cities are different.

We actually had a woman in our office who was Hispanic and was assigned to a position because everyone assumed she could speak Spanish; she didn't speak a word of it.

Reminds me of a scene in a novel once, where a Spanish-surname cop gets asked by a White colleague butting-in "are you a native speaker?", says "yeah", then returns to the room a minute later annoyed, and explains "Of English. I thought he meant English." Other cop had been dealing with some irate old lady who didn't speak much English and gone looking for assistance, of course.

[Franzl]

People keep talking about how Obama did better in polls that make calls in Spanish, but my question is this: Are there actually any American voters who do not know English?

There are lots of immigrants who do not speak English, but do they vote? Remember, you have to be a citizen to vote, and you have to know English to be naturalized. So are there really that many American voters who don't know any English?

The vast majority of them aren't naturalized citizens.