City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Bath Beach, Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Gravesend, Sea Gate) and a broad coalition of elected officials, advocacy organizations, and leaders from communities across the city rallied outside City Hall today, calling for increased interpreter services at Election Day poll sites.
The rally comes just a week after Treyger introduced legislation, Int. 1282, to ensure that, where necessary, interpreters would be provided at poll sites for the 10 most commonly spoken languages in New York City.
Currently, the Board of Elections (BOE) provides interpreters in four languages – Chinese, Spanish, Korean, and Bengali – as mandated by Section 203 of the Federal Voting Rights Act.
Treyger’s bill could expand those language services to include Haitian-Creole, Russian, and Arabic. The bill would also require that, when possible, interpreters be stationed inside of polling sites. Continue reading