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<blockquote data-quote="Babagounj" data-source="post: 933404" data-attributes="member: 12952">PHOENIX (Reuters) – A woman barred from seeking&nbsp; elected office in an Arizona border town by a judge who ruled she did&nbsp; not have a sufficient grasp of English has decided to fight the&nbsp; controversial ruling, and filed an appeal on Friday, her lawyer said.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; A Yuma County judge disqualified Alejandrina Cabrera, a U.S.&nbsp; citizen born in Yuma, from running for a seat on the city council in the&nbsp; town of San Luis this week for what he called a “large gap” between her&nbsp; English proficiency and that required to serve on the council.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; “It was clear to the court that she was stymied by many&nbsp; questions, did not understand many questions, failed to comprehend what&nbsp; was being asked, and guessed at answers,” the court ruling said.&nbsp;U.S.-born Alejandrina Cabrera, who graduated from a public high school&nbsp; in Arizona, is running for a spot on the town’s council yet she barely&nbsp; speaks English. Her attorneys claim that forcing her off the ballot over&nbsp; the language barrier is a violation of her civil rights.But since 1910, Arizona <a href="http://www.azleg.state.az.us/const/enabling.pdf" target="_blank">law</a>&nbsp; has required “that ability to read, write, speak, and understand the&nbsp; English language sufficiently well to conduct the duties of the office&nbsp; without the aid of an interpreter shall be a necessary qualification for&nbsp; all state officers. . . .” Additionally, a measure making English the&nbsp; official state language was approved by an overwhelming 74% of Arizona&nbsp; voters in 2007.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Babagounj, post: 933404, member: 12952"] [B]PHOENIX (Reuters) – [/B]A woman barred from seeking elected office in an Arizona border town by a judge who ruled she did not have a sufficient grasp of English has decided to fight the controversial ruling, and filed an appeal on Friday, her lawyer said. A Yuma County judge disqualified Alejandrina Cabrera, a U.S. citizen born in Yuma, from running for a seat on the city council in the town of San Luis this week for what he called a “large gap” between her English proficiency and that required to serve on the council. “It was clear to the court that she was stymied by many questions, did not understand many questions, failed to comprehend what was being asked, and guessed at answers,” the court ruling said. U.S.-born Alejandrina Cabrera, who graduated from a public high school in Arizona, is running for a spot on the town’s council yet she barely speaks English. Her attorneys claim that forcing her off the ballot over the language barrier is a violation of her civil rights. But since 1910, Arizona [URL="http://www.azleg.state.az.us/const/enabling.pdf"][COLOR=black][B]law[/B][/COLOR][/URL] has required “that ability to read, write, speak, and understand the English language sufficiently well to conduct the duties of the office without the aid of an interpreter shall be a necessary qualification for all state officers. . . .” Additionally, a measure making English the official state language was approved by an overwhelming 74% of Arizona voters in 2007. [/QUOTE]

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