Voting Rights Watch: Some N.C. voting precincts posted inaccurate Spanish ballot instructions

A teacher at a North Carolina college filed a formal complaint with the Avery County Board of Elections after discovering some polling precincts posted inaccurate Spanish-language instructions for marking a ballot.

Rachel Chrane noticed the problem when she voted last week in the town of Banner Elk, N.C., where she is a Spanish instructor at Lees-McRae College, The Appalachian reports:

The Spanish instructions said, "Para votar un candidate marque con una equis en el cuadro a la izquierda del nombre del candidate," Chrane said.

The English translation of the statement is, "To vote for a candidate, mark with an 'X' in the square to the left of the name of the candidate."

The English instructions told voters to fill in the oval completely in order to have their vote counted.

The State Board of Elections told Chrane it sent correct instructions to precincts on Sept. 15, so she visited other Avery County precincts to see what was posted there. She found the correct Spanish instructions posted over the incorrect ones in three out of four voting booths in the Newland Public Library and only the inaccurate instructions posted in the Elk Park precinct.

The State Board and American Civil Liberties Union are investigating, the paper reports.