Today Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte (D-Brooklyn) announces her introduction of two bills, A9727/S7241 and A9729/S7240 also sponsored in the Senate by State Senator Kevin Parker, to ensure that Haitian Creole speaking residents would be able to fully exercise their right to vote.

Assemblymember Bichotte introduced these bills in an effort to push election, and voting reforms especially in the wake of the recent Board of Elections debacle whereby voter records were being purged due to an outdated and inefficient system. This past Tuesday, in New York State's presidential primary we saw hundreds of thousands of voters disenfranchised, but this is the reality for the tens of thousands of Haitian Creole speaking voters every election cycle. "The time for good governance is now in order to make the electoral process better for everyone, including new Americans, senior citizens and new young voters," said Assemblymember Bichotte.

Currently, when mono-lingual Haitian Creole speaking voters go to the polls they are reliant on a family member or friend to accompany them because poll workers, and coordinators are not allowed to help due to the potential for influencing their vote. Furthermore, these heavy populated Haitian Creole poll sites are not assigned a Haitian Creole speaking interpreter. A9727 will ensure that all relevant voting materials will be translated into Haitian Creole. This bill took a page from a similar bill that was introduced and chaptered in 2009 Article 3 Section 506 in the NYS Election Law for Russian speaking voters. A9729 mandates that Haitian Creole speaking interpreters are present at poll sites where the Haitian voting residents make 5% or more of the population in an election district.

"As a newly elected district leader in 2010, I approached the Board of Elections on this issue and was denied of pursuing or changing the law, said Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte. "I was told that it was just 'the status quo'. I want to see this change, and therefore I join hands with other colleagues such as City Councilmember Mark Treyger, State Assemblymember Pamela Harris, and State Assemblymember William Colton who have been real champions for pushing interpreters for the Russian speaking population in Brooklyn."

The NYS Board of Elections' model and calculation to determine interpreters at poll sites is insufficient. Currently, the language has to be spoken by more than 5 percent of the population of NYS in order to qualify for an interpreter, which completely ignores communities that are densely populated with a foreign language other than Chinese and Spanish. For example, in Brooklyn, in the neighborhood communities of Flatbush, the 42nd Assembly District has been assigned two translators – Chinese and Spanish. However, after surveying a number of poll sites in the district, it was found that Chinese and Spanish translation was not needed. The model that the State currently uses is outdated and is ineffective in how it calculates and addresses the issue around effective translation at a poll site in an electoral district that is heavily populated by a group of foreign language speaking Caribbean-Haitian immigrants.

"We are leaving out pockets of immigrant communities – primarily new Americans, who have contributed to this economy and who have a right to vote as citizens," said Bichotte. "The outcome is that these voters are disenfranchised and unable to fully participate in our democracy."

Currently, the districts of State Senator Kevin Parker and State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte cover the largest Haitian Creole speaking population in the State of New York. The Creole speaking population is widespread and also includes communities such as West Harlem where Haitian immigrants initially settled in the 1960s, Brooklyn communities such as Flatbush, Carnarsie, Crown Heights, and many parts of Queens County, Bronx County, Rockland County, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and upstate counties such as Eerie County.

"As someone who represents a Senatorial District that has the largest concentration of Haitian Creole speaking residents outside of Haiti, Assemblymember Bichotte's legislation is crucial to protecting and ensuring the voting rights of the community members we were elected to represent," said State Senator Kevin Parker. "This legislation is timely as we have seen many states move to enact voter suppression laws, and most recently, our own Board of Elections here in the City and its recent improprieties. Coming from a community who has fought hard for everything and continues to struggle to maintain its right to vote today, I would be remiss if I did not sponsor the same-as legislation in the State Senate," concluded the Brooklyn lawmaker.

"In recent months, I passed legislation that increases language access by requiring city websites to include a 'translate' feature to enable constituents, whose first- or primary- language may not be English, to fully participate in city life and access services, just like everyone else. This includes one of our most precious commodities as citizens: the right to vote," said Councilmember Jumaane D. Williams. "I commend Assemblymember Bichotte for introducing her package of legislation, which will make it easier for immigrants, particularly Haitian immigrants in our community, to vote. Instead of restricting the franchise, as many states, and even the U.S. Supreme Court have done – by gutting the Voting Rights Act- we should use every tool possible to ensure that people are able to vote. If not, we are undermining the very foundation of our democracy."

Esmeralda Simmons, Esq. of the Center for Law and Center Justice at Medgar Evers College, CUNY states, "It's time for full respect to be accorded to Haitian-American voters in New York. These hardworking citizens make a huge positive impact to New York society and economy. But, on Election Day their voting rights are not supported, because their language needs are ignored. Like other immigrant New Yorkers, they need election ballots and other important election materials to be translated into their native language to ease their participation in our democracy. The Center for Law and Social Justice strongly supports enactment of state legislation that has been introduced by Assemblymember Bichotte, which will make this a reality and enable the citizenship rights of Haitian- American in New York. Now is the time, as change is coming to the Board of Elections. Let's make democracy work in New York!"

"The New York Immigration Coalition has long urged the NY Board of Elections to ensure that all New Yorkers receive information in languages that they speak and understand," said Steve Choi, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition. "We applaud Assemblywoman Bichotte and support bills A9727 and A9729 that would provide election and voter material in Haitian Creole. We call upon the State Legislature to continue to put forth reforms that will enfranchise our New American voters."