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Interpreters are helping make voting more accessible
During a one-day, pop-up early voting event in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Ia Lee was on hand to help voters whose first language is Hmong.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — With one week to go until Election Day, the city of Minneapolis has been busy holding one-day, pop-up early voting events to reach more people.
Ia Lee, with the city of Minneapolis’ Elections and Voter Services department, was helping out at Tuesday’s pop-up at Farview Recreation Center in north Minneapolis. You can find early voting information in Minneapolis, here.
Beyond answering questions and helping voters register, Lee said, “I am a Hmong speaker. So I do try to make sure I get the word out there to my Hmong community to come out and vote and be there whenever someone needs help.”
According to a city of Minneapolis spokesperson, “As of today, 485 judges are assigned across the city for Election Day with language skills other than English in our primary language categories.”
“They station interpreters throughout the city… the Riverside area will be a lot of Somali translators because most of them are Somali voters over there,” Lee said.
With that in mind, Lee was requested to be ready to help any voters whose first language is Hmong at the Farview pop-up.
“I’m not here to persuade anybody in any type of way. I’m just literally here to help them vote. And that’s what I vocalize to the voters when they come in. I’m just here to help you vote. I don’t care however you vote. My job is to make sure that you understand the process of voting,” Lee said.
In 2023, the state legislature passed a law requiring voting instructions be available at all polling places on Election Day in the three most commonly spoken non-English languages in the state: Hmong, Somali and Spanish.
“We have new requirements in Minnesota that enable certain language communities that meet certain percentage thresholds to have translated materials in those languages, assuming they’re not one of the top three,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon said.
According to the SOS website, “For all precincts in language minority districts, voting instructions and sample ballots will be translated into the most commonly spoken non-English language for all precincts in that census tract. These materials will be posted and available for voters as a reference when casting a ballot.”
The state also has a petition process where if 20% or more of the population speak English “less than very well,” 10 or more registered voters may file a request to have an interpreter at their polling place.
“We feel very good this cycle, better than we ever have, that Minnesotans who are non-native English speakers… will have the resources they need to be able to fully participate,” Simon said.
According to Simon, under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, anyone in Minnesota can bring someone to help them at the polling place.
“That can mean helping them with a physical disability, as I used to do for my late father… or it can be someone who needs assistance in a language. The critical thing, as everyone should expect, and this is the law is you can’t influence a person’s vote,” Simon said.
Simon added that election judges are trained to look for and spot behavior that is not allowed.
On being able to help voters, Lee said, “Just to have them have some kind of understanding of what it is, it feels nice. It feels very nice.”
City staff helped support Gyropolis by removing an abandoned gas station and securing appropriate funding.
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Even before noon, the lunch line was long at Gyropolis on Tuesday. The Greek restaurant was closed for renovations for several months but returned this week under a soft opening.
Dino Contolatis first opened Gyropolis in Bloomington in 2005, following in his parents’ footsteps. They opened a deli in the city in 1996 after emigrating from a picturesque but poor Greek village in 1971.
“My customers, I want to thank them for getting us to this point,” Contolatis said. “I couldn’t have done it without them.”
One such customer, Chuck Pittman, says he’s eaten at the restaurant for at about 10 years now.
“There are lines that would go out the door,” said Pittman, who lives in St. Paul but works in Bloomington. “The parking lot was always super full.”
There have been so many customers, Contolatis decided in 2022 it was time to expand. Only, there was an abandoned gas station next door.
“It got broken into many times,” Pittman said. “It was just kind of an eyesore on the corner.”
The restaurant is located on 90th Street W and Penn Avenue S, which lead to places including City Hall and I-494. It’s considered a busy area, though not as busy as the Mall of America. Still, the city was eager to get involved in the restaurant’s expansion plans.
Economic development analyst Michael Palermo says the city helped demolish the gas station.
“This was a way to kind of redevelop a site that was kind of difficult to develop on its own,” Palermo said.
Palermo says city staff helped secure $58,400 in grant funds from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, making the demolition possible in Fall 2023. Tax increment financing also made the project possible.
“This just speaks to the greater effort we have to support our local commercial nodes,” Palermo said. “We have these big prominent regional destinations but we also want to support our small businesses.”
Gyropolis employees worked from a food truck over the last few months as the restaurant building nearly tripled in size.
The expansion includes a larger kitchen, more parking spaces, more indoor seating and a new patio for outdoor seating.
Pittman joked that gyros are somewhat challenging to eat in the car or on the go.
“I’ve done it, but it’s one of those things that you really want to sit down and enjoy it fresh because they make it perfectly,” he said.
Unlike before, there’s also enough room indoors to wait in line. There’s a pick-up window now, too.
“We used to be 10 employees and now we’re 14 and probably gonna need more, as we can see today,” Contolatis said. “My team are the best people I could possibly work with and the city has been great in helping me navigate this process and to help create a self-determining business on a very important corner in Bloomington that I hope has a bright future.”
Contolatis said a grand opening will take place next week.
After more than 300 suggestions were submitted, city officials have narrowed the finalists down to 10.
DULUTH, Minn. — Halloween can often be a reminder that snow is just around the corner… just ask any Minnesotan who was living in the state back in 1991.
While the idea of snow may not always be welcomed, city officials in Duluth are hoping to make the transition a little more fun.
Voting is now open online for the city’s first-ever snowplow naming contest after more than 300 suggestions were submitted. The 10 finalists to choose from include:
- Enger Plower
- Blizzard Wizzard
- Dewaagonebidood (“the one whi is pishing/plowing snow” in Ojibwe)
- Lake Snowbegone
- Sled Zeppelin
- Snow Dozer
- Edgar Allen Plow
- Plowus Maximus
- D’Lhut Drifter Lifter
- Plowabunga
People will have until Nov. 4 to vote, and the winning name will be announced during the Christmas City of the North Parade on Nov. 22. To vote, click here. The person or persons who submitted the name will win a photo opportunity and will ride in the plow during the parade.
The idea stems from the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s “Name-A-Plow” contest that was introduced back in 2020.
The group is calling on the governor and state lawmakers to join their cause and keep children safe.
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — There’s a new push for better safety measures for kids with autism in Minnesota.
Autism advocates and the Council on American-Islamic Relations held an emergency meeting at the Minnesota State Capitol Tuesday to address two recent drownings.
Back in June, officials say a Hopkins boy with autism, 4-year-old Waeys Ali Mohamed, drowned in a creek. A few months later police say the body of 11-year-old Mohamed Mohamed was found in a pond near his home in Eden Prairie.
Both boys went missing from their homes and both were found in open water a short distance away. Other children have also drowned in recent years.
During their meeting Tuesday, autism advocates and parents shared information about recent cases, and they discovered a shocking statistic.
“We believe that eight children with autism from the Somali community died in the last three years,” CAIR Executive Director Jaylani Hussein said.
Many parents in the Somali community are deeply concerned about this issue.
“I am heartbroken yet again, to hear about a drowning in our community,” mother Fatima Molas said. “This could have been one of my kids. My son loped one week twice.”
Loping, also called Elopement, is a term used in the autism community for wandering. Advocates say children with autism are more likely to wander away from home and they’re often drawn to water.
“We have known for decades the number one cause of death in the autism community for children is drowning. Drowning is 100% preventable,” Jillian Nelson with the Autism Society of Minnesota says.
A recent study from the University of Minnesota suggests 1 in 16 Somali 4-year-olds will be diagnosed with autism, a rate advocates say is two times higher than the general population.
The task force is calling on the governor and lawmakers to join them as they search for strategies to keep these children safe.
“Give access to swim lessons. It’s a basic thing we can do. These children need to learn how to swim. Support the families,” Molas said.
Besides more access to swimming lessons, this task force is also requesting resources to help parents secure their homes so their children can’t get out in the middle of the night.
Advocates say another problem is many of these families have to wait 15 to 18 months to receive services, so they’re looking for strategies to bring that wait time down and bring more workers into the profession.
