Court Removes Arizona Woman From City Council Ballot For Not Speaking English Well Enough

If you're going to run for a position on the city council, shouldn't you at the very least be able to speak English? Apparently, the state of Arizona agrees.

In Arizona, a woman running for city council has been taken off the ballot because she cannot speak English well enough. A county judge ruled that Alejandrina Cabrera be taken off the ballot for city council after testimony from both Cabrera and linguistic experts.

Cabrera was able to tell her attorney her name and where she was born but struggled with what school she had graduated from, according to the Yuma Sun. After being asked the question three times, without being able to answer in English, the judge allowed Cabrera to leave the witness stand and issued his ruling, the paper reported.

Cabrera appealed the decision to the Arizona Supreme Court, which upheld the original decision made by the lower court.

Honestly, I can't believe that this is even an issue. Although more and more people are speaking Spanish in America, particularity here in the South, the vast majority of business here is still conducted in English. It is our official language after all. And if you can't speak the language, just how effective do you think you'll be as a public official? I've got nothing against Spanish-speaking people, but you should at least learn English if you're planning on running for a public office in this country.