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Council sought to require voting machines to display voter's chosen language in ballots.

Official:Amending Title 21 of The Philadelphia Code, entitled “Miscellaneous,” by adding a new Chapter 21-3100, entitled “Voting Machine Languages Requirement;” all under certain terms and conditions.

Sponsor: Councilmember Oh

Introduced: September 12, 2019

elections language accessvoting rights

No one voted on this bill

This bill was introduced in the 2016–2019 Council term and when that term ran out. The public record shows no committee vote and no floor vote at any stage, so no member of Council ever went on record for or against it.

That is not unusual here. Of the 8,465 bills introduced between 2000 and 2025, 1,624 lapsed without a single recorded vote. Ninety percent of bills that became law carry a roll call. Three percent of lapsed bills do. How this works.

Plain-Language Summary

This bill requires that all voting machines in Philadelphia be programmed to allow voters to cast their ballots in a language of their choice.

What This Bill Does

AI-written. Every figure is checked against the bill text.

The bill requires that all voting machines in Philadelphia be programmed to allow voters to cast their ballots in a language of their choice. Specifically, the bill does the following

Requires voting machines to be programmed in 16 languages.
Applies to voting machines purchased by the City of Philadelphia for use in elections.
Reflects a change in the language of voting machine ballots for voters who speak a language other than English at home.
Increases accessibility of voting for approximately 308,605 Philadelphia residents who speak a language other than English at home.