US Presidential Election: New York features this Indian language on ballots

New York City’s linguistic diversity includes more than 200 languages, as confirmed by the Department of City Planning, establishing its status as America’s culturally diverse center. For the US presidential election, however, ballot papers will be available in only five languages, including English, with the inclusion of an Indian language. A key decision stemming from a lawsuit settlement resulted in the inclusion of Bengalis on the ballot.
Bengali is included alongside Chinese, Spanish and Korean. This decision stems from a settlement of the language access lawsuit for the city’s diverse population.
“We are required to serve four other languages ​​apart from English. It is the Asian languages ​​of Chinese, Spanish, Korean and Bengali,” said Michael J Ryan, Executive Director, NYC Board of Elections.
The inclusion of Bengali, spoken by people from India and Bangladesh, is particularly significant for the South Asian community in Queens. The 2013 addition of Bengali-language ballots followed a federal mandate requiring the city to assist South Asian minority voters under Voting Rights Act since 1965.
This move aims to improve voter turnout in the Bengali-speaking community, although it does not represent all languages ​​spoken in the South Asian demographic.
“There was a process about language access and as you know the country of India has a lot of different languages ​​in it. The settlement of that process required, in a certain population density, that there should be an Asiatic Indian language. Then, through some negotiation, they settled on Bengali. I understand the Bengali limits are the choice, but it came out of a process.”
Dr. Avinash Gupta, President, Federation of Indian Association, believes that this initiative will empower the Indian community. “It will help the Indian people to come out and vote. This is how we can make our voices heard. We are a sizeable population. It is heartening to see how Indians are coming out and voting and even participating in elections.”
New York City, home to more than 200 languages, according to the Department of City Planning, continues its commitment to facilitating voter participation among its diverse population.