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In New York, you can vote in Yiddish

In further effort by city’s Board of Elections to expand voter access, registration forms now available for Yiddish-speaking constituents

By JTA 20 September 2016, 2:13 am Edit

A New York City Board of Elections meeting in January 2016. (Screenshot/YouTube)

The New York City Board of Elections has made voting registration forms available in Yiddish.

The forms were available starting Monday, according to a statement by state Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat.

Hikind, who is Jewish, said he requested in December that the Board of Elections provide the forms in Yiddish.

“There are thousands of Yiddish speakers in my district and New York State,” Hikind said in the statement. “Everyone deserves the right to have their voice heard and be able to vote. Now Yiddish-speaking constituents can now register with ease.”

The Board of Elections is required to provide the document, which city residents must fill out in order to vote, in English, Bengali, Mandarin, Korean and Spanish, according to its website. It also provides forms in 11 additional languages, now including Yiddish.

In July, the city made voter registration forms available in five new languages in order to expand access to voting.