New York City’s linguistic diversity encompasses over 200 languages, as confirmed by the Department of City Planning, establishing its status as America’s diverse cultural centre. For the US presidential elections, however, ballot papers will be available in only five languages, including English, with the inclusion of an Indian language. A key decision stemming from a lawsuit settlement led to the inclusion of Bengali on the ballot.
The Bengali language is included alongside Chinese, Spanish, and Korean. This decision stems from a lawsuit settlement concerning language access for the city’s diverse population.
“We are required to service four other languages besides English. It is Chinese, Spanish, Korean and Bengali as the Asian languages,” said Micheal J Ryan, executive director, Board of Elections, NYC.
The inclusion of Bengali, spoken by people from India and Bangladesh, is particularly significant for the South Asian community in Queens. The 2013 addition of Bengali-language ballots followed a federal mandate requiring the city to assist South Asian minority voters under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
This move aims to improve voter participation within the Bengali-speaking community, although it doesn’t represent all languages spoken within the South Asian demographic.
“There was a lawsuit about language access and as you know the country of India has a lot of different languages within it. The settlement of that lawsuit required within a certain population density to have an Asian Indian language. Then through some negotiations, they settled on Bengali. I understand the limitations of Bengali being the choice but it came out of a lawsuit.”
Dr Avinash Gupta, President of the Federation of Indian Association, believes this initiative will empower the Indian community. “It will help the Indian population to go out and vote. That is how we can get our voices heard. We are a sizable population. It is heartening to see how Indians go out and vote and even contest elections.”
New York City, home to over 200 languages according to the Department of City Planning, continues its commitment to facilitating voter participation amongst its diverse population.