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HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF CHINESE BILINGUAL BALLOTS IN BOSTON
| September 2003 | CPA files complaints with both the City of Boston and Secretary of State about voting rights violations inside the polls. Individual Chinese-speaking voters ask that the Secretary of State protect their identities if they file affidavits, then file anonymous "John Doe" affidavits when their request is denied. |
| October 2003 | City of Boston and the Secretary of State repeatedly state that there were no complaints. |
| March 2005 | US Department of Justice comes to Boston to observe the special election and interview voters from different immigrant communities about their voting rights |
| July 2005 | Based on 2003 and 2004 complaints, Department of Justice (DOJ) files lawsuit against the City of Boston for violating the voting rights of limited English-speaking Chinese and Vietnamese voters. |
| August 2005 | Some Chinese-speaking voters step forward to reveal their identities, file new affidavits, and speak in public about their experiences with voting rights violations. They are joined and supported by four city councilors, CPA, Chinatown Resident Association, City Life/Vida Urbana, a legal team, and many immigrant and voting rights organizations. |
| October 2005 | US District Court finalizes a Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Boston and DOJ to provide increased bilingual assistance to Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese-speaking voters, and to launch Chinese and Vietnamese bilingual ballots. |
| November 2005 | Chinese bilingual poll workers jump from 9 to 68 citywide. City of Boston prints a Chinese bilingual sample ballot, but without Chinese transliterated names. City of Boston commits to printing a ballot with transliterated names in the future, but the issue remains a sticking point for the Secretary of State. |
| May 2006 | State legislature passes a bill requiring compliance with the settlement by authorizing the Secretary of State to prepare bilingual ballots for state and federal elections in Chinese and Vietnamese. |
| August 2006 | City of Boston asks the Secretary of State to include Chinese names for candidates on the ballot and to allow Chinese bilingual stickers with Chinese names for state senate write-in campaign, but the Secretary refuses. |
| November 2006 | Congressional mid-term elections proceed with bilingual ballots but candidate names are again not transliterated. |
| April/May 2007 | City of Boston successfully prints the Chinese bilingual ballot with transliterated candidate names in both the preliminary and final election for the special District 2 city council race. |
| May 2007 | Secretary of State continues to oppose transliteration of candidate names on the ballot. Department of Justice asks the court to clarify whether a Chinese bilingual ballot must include candidate names. |
| July 2007 | Secretary of State files his opposition to the DOJ's court motion and argues that transliteration of names is "imprecise" and does not belong on the ballot |
| August 2007 | US District Court denies the motion for clarification, stating that the issues are outside of its jurisdiction. It does not make any opinion on whether or not transliteration is required. |
| December 2008 | City of Boston/DOJ agreement and Chinese bilingual ballot mandate is scheduled to expire. |
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