Will California finally allow accents and original spellings on birth certificates?

María Brenes’ first name has an accent on the letter “í” — but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the Los Angeles resident’s government documents.

Since 1986, when Californians voted to make English the state’s official language, state residents like Brenes who have accent marks or tildes in their names have been barred from including them in birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and other forms of government documents.