Press Release

On Tuesday, April 19, AALDEF will be monitoring the New York Presidential Primary Elections at several polling places in Manhattan’s Chinatown and Lower East Side. Special elections will also be held on April 19 to fill a vacancy in NY’s 65th Assembly District, a seat formerly held by Sheldon Silver.

The Presidential Primaries are open only to voters who are registered in the Democratic and Republican Parties. All registered voters who reside in the 65th A.D. are eligible to vote in the special election, regardless of party enrollment.

AALDEF will be monitoring polling sites for anti-Asian voter disenfranchisement and conducting a non-partisan exit poll. We are seeking volunteers. Bilingual ability in Chinese is helpful but not required. All volunteers must be non-partisan during the time that they participate in AALDEF activities. Volunteers will be stationed at various poll sites in 3-hour shifts to interview voters and/or inspect poll sites for translated materials in Chinese. We will be monitoring from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm on Election Day.

A training will take place on Thursday, April 14th at 12 noon at Morrison & Foerster, 250 West 55th Street, New York City. Lunch will be provided. The 90-minute training will review the Voting Rights Act, Help America Vote Act, and local elections laws; summarize prior voting barriers; and explain how to document voting problems. Please let us know if you have attended a previous training.

To volunteer or attend the training, contact :Jerry Vattamala, Director of the Democracy Program212 966-5932 ext 209 jvattamala@aaldef.org.