[IMC-Boston-Dispatch] Fwd: Advisory: Asian Voter Discrimination Report Th, Aug.18

[News at JamaicaPlainGazette.com]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Glenn Magpantay" <gmagpantay at aaldef.org>
> Date: August 17, 2005 11:59:08 AM EDT
> To: <news at jamaicaplaingazette.com>
> Cc: <administration at jamaicaplaingazette.com>
> Subject: Advisory: Asian Voter Discrimination Report Th, Aug.18
> Reply-To: <gmagpantay at aaldef.org>
>
>
> You can also join this press conference by phone at 1.888.476.3757,  
> passcode 647512.  We'll be discussing voting problems in Boston,  
> given the federal lawsuit.  But please RSVP.
> -Glenn
>
> -----------
>
> MEDIA ADVISORY
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  Monday, August 15, 2005
> CONTACT: Glenn Magpantay, Staff Att'y., 212.966.5932 x206,  
> 917.439.3158
>
> ************************************************
> Anti-Asian Voter Discrimination in 2004
> Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund releases new report  
> on eight states
> ************************************************
>
> The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), a 31- 
> year old civil rights organization, will release a new report  
> outlining an array of voting obstacles encountered by Asian  
> American in the November 2004 Presidential Election.  The release  
> is part of activities commemorating the 40th anniversary of the  
> federal Voting Rights Act earlier this month.
>
> AALDEF’s new report, Asian American Access to Democracy in the 2004  
> Elections, documents violations of the Voting Rights Act and Help  
> America Vote Act (HAVA) and other incidents of anti-Asian voter  
> disenfranchisement in 23 cities in 8 states: NY, NJ, MA, RI, MI,  
> IL, PA, and VA.  On Nov. 2, 2004, AALDEF monitored almost 200 poll  
> sites and conducted a multilingual survey of 11,000 Asian American  
> voters.  AALDEF received more than 600 complaints of voting barriers.
> * Language assistance at poll sites, if any, was far from  
> adequate.  In one instance, Chinese interpreters were given to  
> Korean voters.
> * Poll workers were rude, hostile, and made racist remarks.  For  
> example, poll workers said Asian American voters should not be  
> citizens and blamed Asian voters for holding up lines.
> * Like the encounters of minority voters in Florida in 2000, Asian  
> Americans were turned away because their names were inadvertently  
> missing from voter roll books.
> *  Poll workers made illegal demands for identification from Asian  
> American voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act.  One voter  
> was required to produce her naturalization certificate, and when  
> she returned with it in hand, she was told that it was too late to  
> vote.
> AALDEF will call for election improvements and renewing parts of  
> the Voting Rights Act that are set to expire in 2007.
>
> Event:
> Release of report, Asian American Access to Democracy in the 2004  
> Elections, and
> call for renewing the Voting Rights Act on the Act's 40th Anniversary
>
> Date/Time:
> Thursday, August 18, 2005
> 11:00 AM
> (To call into the conference: 1.888.476.3757, passcode 647512)
>
> Location:
> AALDEF Office, 99 Hudson Street, 12th floor
> between Franklin and Worth Street, TriBeCa, Manhattan
> Take 1 train to Franklin St., 2/3 to Chambers St., or A/C/E to  
> Canal St.
>
> Speakers:
> Glenn D. Magpantay, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
> Young Sook Na, Young Korean American Service and Education Center  
> (YKASEC)
> PC Cheng, Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY)
> Imrana Khera, South Asian American Leaders for Tomorrow
>
> Copies of the report can be obtained online at www.aaldef.org or by  
> calling AALDEF at 212.966.5932.
>
> *     *     *
>
>
> ************************************************************
> ASIAN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND
> 99 Hudson Street, 12/F New York, NY 10013-2815
> Defending the civil rights of Asian Americans since 1974
> t: 212.966.5932 f: 212.966.4303 website: www.aaldef.org
> ************************************************************
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