In today's West County Times, in a column called "Consejos" ("a bicultural advice column focused on relationships, culture and identity"), the three columnists (Danny Ramirez, Catherine Jagers and Liliana Gundlach) attempted to answer the following questions:
To vote in the United States, you must be a citizen. To be a citizen, you must be able to read and understand English. Then why are there ballots in Spanish??
Nowhere, however, do Danny, Catherine and Lily address the fundamental flaw in the question, which comes in the second sentence. Nowhere in America is there a requirement, either divine or legal, that one must be able to read and understand English to be a citizen. There is a requirement, as Danny points out, that "[i]mmigrants are required to 'demonstrate knowledge' of English before they can attain citizenship...", but "demonstrate knowledge of" and "read and understand" are two quite different things, and in any case this rule is applicable only to immigrants, not to those of us who happened to be born here and became citizens while being able to speak no language more sophisticated than "wa-wa-wa".
It's nice to be able to read and understand English when you go to the polls to vote. But, general belief notwithstanding, it is not mandatory.