Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 2013

The 2010 Citizens Clean Elections Voter Education Guide: Constructing the “Illegal Immigrant” in the Arizona Voter

Justin G. Whitney University of Utah

Abstract

This “essay” (article) is a close and critical look at The 2010 Citizens Clean Elections Voter Education Guide, a document made available to the Arizona public prior to the 2010 state General elections. Though the guide is described as “a nonpartisan, plain-language handbook” by its authors, it can be implicated in the production and reproduction of a discursive process that further constructs a degraded notion of both undocumented individuals and immigration. Many of the politicians that published statements in the guide continually associate undocumented immigrants and immigration with both the use of firearms and with crime in general. Additionally, I find that the majority of politicians in this document perpetuate this demeaning, violent, and inaccurate discourse for personal political gain. In conclusion, I argue for the expanded role of education concerning the effects of discursive forces in the United States.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2013-10-01
DOI
10.2190/tw.43.4.f
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis
Export
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Richter (2024)
    Communicating Democracy: Opportunities for Election Knowledge Communication and…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Dorpenyo (2024)
    The Fair Fight to Dismantle Voter Suppression: Recognizing Electoral Injustice …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Sánchez (2023)
    Slow Civic Violence and the Removal of USPS Mail Sorting Machines During the 20…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Cheek (2023)
    Making a Case for Political Technical Communication (Pxtc)
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Veeramoothoo (2022)
    Social Justice and the Portrayal of Migrants in International Organization for …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 7 →
  1. Cheek (2020)
    Political technical communication and ideographic communication design in a pre…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  2. Dorpenyo (2019)
    Risky Election, Vulnerable Technology: Localizing Biometric Use in Elections fo…
    Technical Communication Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 8 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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