§ 17-208 — Assistance for language-minority groups

§ 17-208. Assistance for language-minority groups. 1. Political\nsubdivisions required to provide language assistance. A board of\nelections or a political subdivision that administers elections shall\nprovide language-related assistance in voting and elections to a\nlanguage-minority group in a political subdivision if, based on data\nfrom the American community survey, or data of comparable quality\ncollected by a public office, that:\n (a) more than two percent, but in no instance fewer than three hundred\nindividuals, of the citizens of voting age of a political subdivision\nare members of a single language-minority group and are limited English\nproficient.\n (b) more than four thousand of the citizens of voting age of such\npolitical subdivision are members of a single language-minority group\nand are limited English proficient.\n (c) in the case of a political subdivision that contains all or any\npart of a Native American reservation, more than two percent of the\nNative American citizens of voting age within the Native American\nreservation are members of a single language-minority group and are\nlimited English proficient. For the purposes of this paragraph, "Native\nAmerican" is defined to include any persons recognized by the United\nStates census bureau or New York as "American Indian" or "Alaska\nNative".\n 2. Language assistance to be provided. A board of elections or\npolitical subdivision required to provide language assistance to a\nparticular language-minority group pursuant to this section shall\nprovide voting materials in the covered language of an equal quality of\nthe corresponding English language materials, including registration or\nvoting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or\ninformation relating to the electoral process, including ballots. Any\nregistration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or\nother materials or information relating to the electoral process,\nincluding ballots, in a covered political subdivision, shall be provided\nin the language of the applicable language-minority group as well as in\nthe English language, provided that where the language of the applicable\nlanguage-minority group is historically oral or unwritten, the board of\nelections or political subdivision shall only be required to furnish\noral instructions, assistance, or other information relating to\nregistration and voting.\n 3. Action for declaratory judgment for English-only voting materials.\nA board of elections or political subdivision subject to the\nrequirements of this section which seeks to provide English-only\nmaterials may file an action against the state for a declaratory\njudgment permitting such provision. The court shall grant the requested\nrelief if it finds that the determination was unreasonable or an abuse\nof discretion.\n 4. Standing. Any aggrieved persons, organization whose membership\nincludes aggrieved persons or members of a protected class, organization\nwhose mission, in whole or in part, is to ensure voting access and such\nmission would be hindered by a violation of this section, or the\nattorney general may file an action pursuant to this section in the\nsupreme court of the county in which the alleged violation of this\nsection occurred.\n 5. This section shall not apply to special districts as defined by\nsection one hundred two of the real property tax law.\n