CNN) -- Voters in Nashville, Tennessee -- a city that has seen a dramatic increase in its immigrant population -- rejected a measure Thursday that would have made English the only language used for government business in its metropolitan area.
Nearly 57 percent of those who cast ballots Thursday in Nashville, Tennessee, voted against the measure.
With all 173 precincts reporting, 41,752 voters, or nearly 57 percent, voted against the proposed amendment, with 32,144 voters supporting it, according to unofficial results posted on the Nashville city government Web site.
"No person shall have a right to government services in any other language," the proposal read.
The measure would have included government meetings.
The Metropolitan Council, which submitted the measure, could have mandated exceptions to protect public health and safety.
Elise Shore, southeast director of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said her regional office in Atlanta, Georgia, was monitoring the Nashville balloting.
"We just elected our first black president. There are the forces of globalization and conducting business around the world ... in the face of this, we see these measures?" Shore asked.
The proposal "sends a strong message ... this is a negative message. In fact, it invites discrimination," she said.
In a newspaper editorial published Thursday, The Tennessean urged voters to defeat the proposal.
"This amendment would exclude and marginalize those residents and visitors to Nashville simply because English is not their native tongue," the editorial said.
The polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 7 p.m.
Before the measure was defeated, a spokesman for U.S. English Inc., an action group that supports English-only laws nationwide, said the Nashville proposal was a good one.
"Government programs are aimed at helping people reach self-sufficiency and success," Rob Toonkel said. "Allowing use of a second language doesn't encourage them to learn English."
"The key word [of the amendment] is 'actions that bind the government,' " Toonkel said, which would cover transactions such as getting a city contract.
If a non-English speaker needs help filling out a form, and someone in that agency speaks their language, they should be helped, he said. "But you shouldn't be able to come in, pick up a form [in another language] and leave."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/...l?iref=24hours
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