(a) The Department of Elections must designate 1 or more languages, other than English, for which local offices will be required to implement language assistance programs if the Department of Elections finds that a significant and substantial need exists for such assistance in the local office.

(b) Significant and substantial need is determined through examination of the best available data, which may include information from the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey or data of comparable quality collected by a governmental entity.

(c) Either of the following criteria are sufficient for the finding of significant and substantial need requiring the Department of Elections to designate language assistance:

(1) More than 2% of the citizens, but in no instance fewer than 100 individuals, of voting age in a local office speak a particular shared language other than English and are LEP individuals.

(2) More than 1,000 of the citizens of voting age in a local office speak a particular shared language other than English and are LEP individuals.

(d) On January 1 of each year, the Department of Elections must publish on its website a list of each local office in which assistance in voting and elections in a language other than English must be provided. The Department’s determinations under this section are effective upon publication. The Department must distribute to each affected local office the information contained in its list and each local office must provide the assistance determined by the list.

(e) A jurisdiction described in subsection (d) of this section must provide assistance in voting and elections, including related materials, in any language designated by the Department of Elections under subsection (a) of this section to electors in that jurisdiction who are limited English proficient individuals.

(f) Whenever the Department of Elections determines, under this section, that language assistance must be provided in a local office, the local office must provide competent assistance in each designated language and must provide related materials in English and in each designated language. “Related materials” includes registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, notices of available assistance, information pamphlets, sample ballots, candidate qualification information, ballots, and other materials or information relating to the electoral process, whether the related materials are physical materials or hosted on the local office’s website. In the case of a language that is oral or unwritten, including historically unwritten as may be the case for some Native Americans, a local office may provide only oral instructions, assistance, or other information relating to the electoral process in such language. All materials provided in a designated language must be of an equal quality to the corresponding English materials. All provided translations must convey the intent and essential meaning of the original text or communication and shall not rely solely on any automatic translation service. Whenever available, language assistance must include live translation.

(g) The Department of Elections shall adopt regulations to establish a review process under which the Department shall determine, upon receipt of a request submitted under this subsection, whether a significant and substantial need exists in a local office for a language to be designated for the provision of assistance in voting and elections whenever such a need has not been found under subsection (c) of this section. The process must include all of the following:

(1) An opportunity for any elector, organization whose membership includes or is likely to include electors, organization whose mission would be frustrated by a jurisdiction’s failure to provide language assistance, or organization that would expend resources in order to fulfill such organization’s mission as a result of the failure, to submit a request for the Department of Elections to consider so designating a language in a local office.

(2) A timeline specifying when requests to determine whether a significant and substantial need exists in a local office may be submitted to be considered timely for the next election, and a time period by which the Department of Elections must provide a written determination, which shall be published on its website.

(3) An opportunity for public comment, testimony, or affidavits from individuals or entities representing or serving the language minority community, including impacted voters.

(4) That, upon receipt of any request and consideration of any public comment, the Department of Elections may, in accordance with the process of making a determination, so designate any language in a local office.

(h) Section 4943(a) of this title shall be construed to include LEP individuals who speak a language other than English.

85 Del. Laws, c. 421, § 3; 

(a) An action to cure a violation of this subchapter may be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction by an individual aggrieved by such violation, or an organization aggrieved by such a violation, or the Attorney General. Members of 2 or more protected classes may jointly file an action. In furtherance of § 9 of Article I of the Delaware Constitution, this section must be construed liberally to confer standing broadly, except that no determination of the Department of Elections under this section to designate a local office or a language for the provision of assistance constitutes a violation of this section.

(b) An organization aggrieved by a violation of this subchapter includes an organization whose membership includes individuals aggrieved by a violation, an organization whose mission would be frustrated by a violation, an organization that would expend or divert resources to fulfill its mission as a result of a violation, or an organization that would expend greater resources or efforts to advocate before an elected body that is less responsive to the organization or its members due to a violation. An organization shall not be compelled to disclose the identity of any specific member to pursue a claim on behalf of its members, except, however, if an organization asserts standing on the basis that members of the organization are aggrieved, a court may compel the organization to provide affidavits from impacted members sufficient to satisfy these requirements if it is not satisfied with any initial organizational affidavit or other proof lacking identifying membership information. Such court order must allow for an organization to produce any necessary records or portions thereof under seal or in any like manner recognized by court rules in which confidential information is protected from public view so long as the organization demonstrates good cause by providing any credible statement that its members privacy or safety interests would be negatively impacted by public knowledge of their membership in the organization or involvement in the lawsuit. Such sealed or confidential records shall remain under seal indefinitely following final judgment.

(c) Attorneys’ fees are available to a prevailing plaintiff party in any action pertaining to language assistance. Fees are also available when a local office voluntarily adopts language assistance after a party files suit under this section.

85 Del. Laws, c. 421, § 3;