Secretary of state hopeful: US should be predominantly English speaking
Oct 30, 2018, 1:47 PM
(Facebook Photo/Steve Gaynor)
(Facebook Photo/Steve Gaynor)
PHOENIX — Steve Gaynor, the Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state, said he believes it would be great if the United States was predominantly English speaking because it would be easier for others to assimilate.
“I think it would be great in our country if English was predominant because from the standpoint of people obtaining success and participating, it would be great if that could be the case,” Gaynor told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes on Tuesday.
Gaynor made the comment in response to comments he made during a Republican candidate forum in Wickenburg in August. At the forum, Gaynor said the United States should stop printing ballots in any language other than English.
“I would be the first to say it should be … ballots, information pamphlets, all the material in our country, should be in English,” Gaynor told the crowd.
But Gaynor told Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes that the comment “didn’t come from an anti-immigrant place, it came from the fact that I think in our country we could do a better job helping people assimilate.”
Gaynor assured that, if he were elected as secretary of state, he would uphold the federal law that uses Census data to determine what languages ballots are printed in.
“The language on the ballot is a function of federal law,” he added.
If he is elected, Gaynor said he would also move to improve the process in which signatures are captured and approved for mail-in voting ballots and update the voting rolls.
