S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2789
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 29, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  COMRIE,  CARLUCCI, KRUEGER, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO --
   read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to
   the Committee on Elections
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend the election law, in relation to directing the Queens
   county board of elections to provide language assistance  in  Bengali,
   Punjabi and Hindi
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new  section  3-508
 to read as follows:
   §  3-508. QUEENS COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS; VOTING MATERIALS IN BENGA-
 LI, PUNJABI AND HINDI.  THE  QUEENS  COUNTY  BOARD  OF  ELECTIONS  SHALL
 PROVIDE  WRITTEN  LANGUAGE  ASSISTANCE IN THE BENGALI, PUNJABI AND HINDI
 LANGUAGES PURSUANT TO SECTION TWO HUNDRED THREE OF THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT
 OF NINETEEN HUNDRED SIXTY-FIVE  (42  U.S.C.  1973AA-1A).  SUCH  LANGUAGE
 ASSISTANCE  SHALL  INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, BALLOTS, SIGNS, VOTER
 MAILINGS, EMPLOYEE AND VOLUNTEER TRAINING MATERIALS AND  INFORMATION  ON
 SUCH BOARD'S WEBSITE. IT SHALL ALSO PRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE COUNTYWIDE A
 BOOKLET  THAT  INCLUDES:  (A)  A VOTER REGISTRATION FORM IN ENGLISH WITH
 INSTRUCTIONS IN BENGALI, PUNJABI AND HINDI; (B) INSTRUCTIONS IN BENGALI,
 PUNJABI AND HINDI REGARDING THE CRITERIA  AND  APPLICATION  PROCESS  FOR
 OBTAINING  AN  ABSENTEE  BALLOT;  AND  (C)  A SECTION WITH GENERAL VOTER
 INFORMATION IN BENGALI, PUNJABI AND  HINDI  INCLUDING  FREQUENTLY  ASKED
 QUESTIONS.  SUCH BOARD MAY INCLUDE OTHER LANGUAGES ON ITS WEBSITE AND IN
 SUCH BOOKLET.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
 it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition,  amend-
 ment  and/or repeal of any rules or regulations necessary for the imple-
 mentation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made on
 or before such date.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03033-01-9