New York – New York Assemblyman Dov Hkind fired off a letter to the New York City Board of Elections on Monday requesting that the board start providing such forms in Yiddish in order to serve the thousands of Yiddish-speaking New Yorkers.
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“There are voter registrations forms in Bengali, why not Yiddish? Everyone talks about how important it is to register to vote. There are thousands of Yiddish-speakers in my district and New York State,” Hikind said.
In his letter to NYC Board of Elections President Michael Michel, Hikind wrote, “Making voter registration forms available in Yiddish will encourage native speakers of the language to register to vote by making the process more comfortable, inviting, and user-friendly.”
“I invite you to take a look at any newsstand near my office, where you will see dozens of Yiddish language newspapers, magazines, and other publications, attesting to the vibrancy and every day usage of the language,” the letter stated. “As another Election Day draws closer, ballots and other materials generated by the Board of Elections, as well as information on the website, will continue to be displayed only in Bengali,Chinese, Korean, and Spanish. The voter registration handbook was even translated into Russian. But there are no Yiddish voting materials. This is a shanda—a disgrace—and totally unacceptable.”
In conclusion, Hikind wrote, “We need to expand voter registration opportunities to the thousands of Kings County residents whose primary language is Yiddish, especially in communities in my district such as Borough Park and Midwood, as well as Crown Heights, Kensington, and Williamsburg.”
Learn to read English!
What is sad is that the majority of the Yiddish speaking population was actually born in the USA. G-d forbid they learn English while living in the USA.
How about translating into Yiddish the New York State law that mandates the secular education each child is required to receive.
There is a good chance that someone speaking Bengali is not educated (and — probably should not be voting for that reason). But any Yiddish speaking Jew who is not sufficiently proficient in English to navigate the voting rules is a further indictment on the hareidi education system that skirts New York State laws, violating them with impunity.
That Dov Hikind is aiding this put him clearly as being a part of the problem. (And really, many problems in that community.)
No news there.
Hikind has it backwards like most other Democrats. We don’t need to add ballots in Yiddish, we need to remove all other languages other than English.
If someone can’t read it, they can’t vote. Makes no difference if your rich or poor.
What for?
If they came from outside of the US his request might have some validity. But shouldn’t US citizens born here be able to understand enough English to vote as they are instructed? Hikind is again pandering. I never understood how those who need foreign language ballots could be well enough informed on the issues to cast an intelligent vote, anyway.
A complete waste of taxpayer money. The Heimishe Oilam can get by in English even if they are more comfortable in Yiddish. This is called “pandering” and is Mr. Hikind’s way of telling the chassidishe that he is their buddy even though he wears a different kind of headgear.