Election 2006

Ma Wah and Pak Hong took a few moments after voting in today’s election to respond to a survey about their voting experience as Asian-Americans. Pausing to think about each question, they responded to a bubbly volunteer in their native Cantonese. The girl’s thick black ponytail bounced as she enthusiastically inquired whether they had used an interpreter or translated materials to vote, and whether they had been affected by anti-immigrant sentiment. Although today was a smooth experience for them, it has not always been so for Asian-American immigrant voters in New York City.

Ma Wah Hong, 86, and her husband, Pak, 93, have been in the United States for 30 years, and for 15 they have participated in the electoral process. They emigrated from Hong Kong to New York City and now live above the poll center in Chinatown. Today was something of a routine for them. While Pak used the English version of the voting materials at the polls, his wife Ma Wah preferred the Chinese translated ballot, which he helped her to fill out.

Historically, Asian-American immigrants have endured a voting experience fraught with problems resulting from a lack of qualified interpreters and translated voting materials as well as encounters with outright discrimination. According to a May 2006 report put out by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), in the 2000 Presidential election, for example, voters in Queens County encountered ballots that had reversed translated party headings, switching “Republican” for “Democrat.” In 2004, over 80 monitored polling sites in New York City lacked the required number of interpreters. And, as recently as 2005, one polling place in Chinatown shut down voting machines due to the lack of Chinese-translated voting materials. The report cites racist remarks made in 2004 to Asian-American voters. Poll workers spoke to them as if they were calling to order Chinese food.

In response, the Fund created the 2006 Election Protection Plan. Shirley Lin, Communications Coordinator for the Fund, said this new initiative would employ over 600 volunteers in eight states, including New York, to monitor the voting experiences of Asian-American voters.

One of the main goals of the program is to ensure that voting materials are provided in languages voters can understand.

Fund volunteers conducted exit-poll surveys in nine languages, such as the Chinese dialects of Cantonese and Mandarin, in an effort to monitor Asian-Americans’ experiences at the polls and record any instances of discrimination. The organization is also encouraging voters to call their toll-free hotline to report difficulties with translation, harassment or any other problems at polling places.

According to Ms. Lin, the recruitment of volunteers from among college and law school students and pro-bono attorneys was very successful. “We have a lot of repeat volunteers,” she said. The volunteers were dispersed among 19 polling sites throughout New York City, including the polling place at 33 Bowery Street in Chinatown.

Donna Chiu, 26, of Brooklyn is a repeat volunteer for the Fund. Ms. Chiu learned English as a second language, and uses her bilingual abilities to speak with Chinese voters in her native Cantonese. This year she supervised the surveys conducted at the polling place in Chinatown. She first volunteered as a law student three years ago and is now an attorney for MFY Legal Services in New York City. “Voting is an important issue for me,” she said. “This is my way of contributing.”

Volunteering alongside Ms. Chiu was Thomas Kung, 22, a first-year law student at Brooklyn College. Mr. Kung immigrated to the United States from Taiwan with his family when he was 14. He relied on his first language, Mandarin, to speak with voters about their experiences.

“My mom doesn’t speak English very well and she’s had problems in the past voting,” Mr. Kung said. “AALDEF was looking for people that were bilingual so I figured I’d try it out.” He learned of the opportunity through the Asian American Student’s Association at his school. “I just thought I could help out,” he said.

Heather Palenschat, an undergraduate political science major at City College, volunteered as a favor to a friend. She is not bilingual, and instead focused her efforts on the English-proficient voters. The Fund recruited some non-bilingual volunteers in order to bolster their ranks for Election Day, she said.

The Fund has monitored every election since 1989, Ms. Lin said. But in this time, the New York City Board of Elections failed to make significant changes to improve the voting experience for Asian-Americans. So in February 2006, the Fund filed suit against the Board, citing alleged violations of the language assistance provision of the Voting Rights Act.

“We are hopeful that the Board of Elections will move toward a settlement,” Ms. Lin said. “We’re working closely with the Board of Elections under the supervision of a judge.”