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Documented NY: Exit Poll Finds Asian Voters Struggled with Language Access
A recent poll finds 23% of Asian voters in New York City lacked access to interpreters and 39% were only offered English ballots.
By April Xu
On the morning of Election Day, long lines of voters snaked around the P.S. 020 polling station in Flushing when someone shouted, “We need a Chinese interpreter!”
Hui Phing Tan, the on-site translator, quickly headed toward the voice, and helped out the elderly Chinese couple waiting for her.
On the other side of the polling site, Ying Chen, 72, came out hoping to vote for the first time after living in the U.S. for over 20 years. The voting experience, she says, was frustrating. “I waited a while for translation services.”
By 11:30 a.m., nearly six hours after the first polls opened, Tan said she and her colleagues had received over 120 requests from Chinese-speaking voters for language assistance.
“There aren’t enough interpreters — our schedules are tight, and our shifts are disrupted,” Tan told Documented, who noted that there were only four Chinese interpreters at the poll site.
P.S. 020 was not the only site facing language access issues. According to a 2024 Asian American exit poll released Thursday, language access was a major factor hindering many Asian American voters from casting their ballots in this election.
According to the report, language access was the most frequently reported issue, comprising a third of all incidents on Election Day. In New York City, 23% of Asian voters surveyed said they lacked access to interpreters, while 67% said they received help from an on-site official interpreter. Additionally, 10% brought someone with them to assist in translation and 39% of those surveyed said they were only offered English ballots.
Asian American voters faced not only a lack of language access at the polls but also a shortage of in-language voter education materials beforehand. This lack of resources left many like Chen unprepared and ultimately led to difficulties voting. Tan said that of the nearly 30 Chinese voters she encountered, especially seniors, most were unaware they needed to register prior to voting. Asian Americans and other voters of colors have long had gaps in voter registration rates between them and white eligible voters.
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The exit poll was released by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a national organization that protects and promotes the civil rights of Asian Americans.
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Read the article here: https://documentedny.com/2024/11/11/exit-poll-language-aapi-asian-vote/