Interpreters Will Be Allowed Inside Polling Sites
DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Today a Brooklyn judge did not grant the Board of Election’s (BOE) their request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the city’s interpreters from being stationed inside polling sites during tomorrow’s Election Day. The decision was upheld this afternoon by the Brooklyn Appeals Court.
Judge Walker of the State Supreme Court in Brooklyn said the BOE did not prove interpreters would cause “irreparable harm,” according to WNYC’s Brigid Bergin’s Twitter thread. The decision comes after the BOE filed suit to stop the city from stationing interpreters for Haitian Creole, Russian, Italian, Arabic, Yiddish, and Polish voters inside poll sites.
Walker also said the measure to station interpreters inside the polling site supports increasing voter participation.
In judges decision in Supreme Court, Judge Walker said the @BOENYC did not prove that the interpreters would cause “irreparable harm.” Speculative claims regarding possible harm or arguments that this might lead to a “slippery slope” are insufficient, Walker wrote in his decision
— Brigid Bergin (@brigidbergin) February 25, 2019
“This is a great victory in what has been a long fight for the rights of tens of thousands of New Yorkers,” said Councilman Treyger who in 2017 coordinated the language assistance program. The Ukrainian-American whose district has a substantial Russian-speaking population called the practice “inhumane” after interpreters were left in the cold and rain during the 2017 and 2018 November general elections.
The city’s language assistance program is in addition to what the BOE is required to provide under the Voting Rights Act. Currently, the BOE provides translation services for Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean and Bengali, all of whom are stationed inside polling sites on Election Day.
The pilot program brought a new slate of interpreters to the city and state elections but interpreters were required to stay more than 100 feet away from respective polling sites.
Last week in an interview with Gothamist, Counsel Lawrence Mandelker of Eiseman Levine Lehrhaupt & Kakoyiannis, P.C. raised concerns about training and vetting the city used in hiring the additional staff.
The additional language services cost the city’s taxpayers $640,000. Langlo Inc., a Manhattan translation service vendor, will provide the personnel.
Minutes before the BOE and city were scheduled to appear in court, lawmakers and activists rallied inside of Borough Hall, some of whom likened the restriction to voter oppression.
“We have a right to vote and the oppression of that vote will not be allowed in this state,” said State Sen. Zellnor Myrie.
Last October, the city expanded the 2017 pilot program offering additional interpreters at 86 locations throughout Brooklyn.