Sunday, 5 May 2024

BOE threatens to sue city over special election translators

Mayor Bill de Blasio has gotten into a strange fight with the city’s Board of Elections, which is suing the city to block its translators from being placed inside poll sites for Tuesday’s special election for public advocate.

Speaking on WNYC radio Friday, the mayor said communities “have been begging us” to provide interpreters beyond the ones the board assigns for common languages like Spanish and Cantonese.

“The Board of Elections is saying, ‘No. Those translators have to stay outside in the cold and the only way they can help people is they’re not allowed inside the doors of the polling place.’”

The mayor and City Council President Corey Johnson announced in October that the city would provide translators at 100 poll sites for six more languages: Russian, Haitian Creole, Italian, Arabic, Polish and Yiddish.

In papers filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court Friday, the board said only it is authorized under law to make such assignments.

“Having a Mayoral agency assist in the conduct of the election, at the very least, gives rise to the appearance of impropriety and, at worst, could provide an opportunity to influence the outcome of the election,” the board said in asking the court to block the translators from the poll booths.

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts