Iowa Supreme Court overturns ruling, blocks non-English voting materials

Yahoo

10-05-2025

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court ruled against the League of United Latin American Citizens and overturned a district ruling allowing non-English voting materials.
The 2002 'English-only' law requires all official documents to be in English unless necessary to maintain a person's Constitutional rights. In 2008, a district court ruled this applied to election materials, like ballots, and placed a permanent injunction barring the state from using non-English materials.
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LULAC sought to overturn that ruling a sued Secretary of State Paul Pate in 2021. A district court sided with LULAC in 2023, dissolving the injunction and allowing voting materials in other languages. Pate then appealed the ruling.
On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that LULAC lacked standing in the case and said there was no proof that the organization faced a direct injury to its legal rights.
Following the ruling, Pate released a statement saying Iowa would continue to follow federal standards. This includes providing translated versions of official documents and forms in areas where certain population thresholds have been met.
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