A09531 Summary:
| BILL NO | A09531 |
| SAME AS | No same as |
| SPONSOR | Colton |
| COSPNSR | Weinstein, Cymbrowitz |
| MLTSPNSR | |
| Add S3-507, El L | |
| Directs board of elections in a city of over one million to furnish voting materials in Russian language as well as in English. | |
A09531 Actions:
| BILL NO | A09531 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 01/17/2006 | referred to election law | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A09531 Memo:
Go to topNEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law, in relation to providing Russian language voting materials PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL: To provide voting materials printed in Russian language as well as English SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS: The election law is amended by adding a new section 3-507, which calls for cities of over one million to provide any registration or voting materials to also be printed in the Russian language JUSTIFICATION: According to a March 2004 MSNBC article, there are 320,000 residents in the New York Metropolitan Area who were born in Russia and other former Soviet Union countries. The same article also says that there are between 1 and 1.5 million Russian-speaking people living there. There are some Assembly districts that have significant Russian speaking populations, up to even 20% of some districts' total population. These people are being shut out of the voting process unfairly because of their language. Voting and registration materials are printed in many languages other than English but Russian has long been ignored. These people aren't voting because they aren't registered and they aren't registered because they can't read the materials in English to do so. If New York State wants to equally represent all of its people it must pass this act to enfranchise another of its culturally diverse immigrant populations, like the many that have come before it. PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Not known EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become law.