BILL NUMBER: S6319

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to providing interpreters
at certain polling place locations

 
PURPOSE:

This bill expands language interpretation services to individual
election districts, as needed, to assure that limited English proficient
voters are able to understand the vote on the ballot provided. It
responds to a direct need to identify those individual election
districts with a disproportionate number of limited English proficient
speakers, and then to assure that an interpreter is provided at that
election district.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one establishes that Section 4-100 of the election law is
amended by adding a new subdivision 6 requiring that the State Board of
              

Elections is responsible for identifying the number of voting age citi-
zens within an Election District who speak a language other than English
at home. If at least 15% of the voting age citizens speak a particular
language other than English at home, each County Board of Elections must
provide at least one poll worker who speaks that language at the polling
places throughout that Election District.  Upon voter request, the poll
worker will provide interpretation services to the voter requesting
interpretation in the language for which he/she/they were assigned to
the polling location.

Section two establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

When voting age citizens are exercising their right to vote, a language
barrier should not impede their ability to vote in elections. By provid-
ing an interpreter at polling locations in which the Board of Elections
anticipates a specified level of demand for interpretation services, the
Board of Elections will ensure these citizens are able to cast their
votes free from anxiety, confusion or intimidation. In one instance in
Yonkers, in an election district in which the vast majority of the
voters spoke Korean at home, voters were unable to freely and fully
exercise their rights to vote. This bill will ensure that voters in such
instances will have access to a neutral interpreter who is a poll work-
er.

This bill will require that the State Board of Elections identify
election districts with high numbers of limited English proficient
speakers, and that each County Board of Elections provide an interpreter
within the polling locations of those election districts that have a
high population (15% or more) of voting age citizens who speak a
language other than English at home. This expands the current require-
ments of the federal Voting Rights Act, as amended in 1975.

Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act requires political subdivi-
sions (mostly counties) to provide language assistance for those citi-
zens in localities where there are more than 10,000 or over 5 percent of
the total voting age citizens who are members of a single minority
language group, have depressed literacy rates and do not "speak or
understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral
process." This bill adds to those protections by requiring language
assistance in individual election districts where there is substantial
need for interpretation services based on the percentage of limited
English proficient voters.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017-2018: S8588/A9642 (Mayer), referred to Elections

2019-2020: S2098/A7111 (Mayer), referred to Elections

2021-2022: S188A/A4180-A, referred to Elections

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.