Italian Interpreter Services Are Coming To This Astoria Poll Site

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Voters in Astoria who speak Italian will be able to receive help from interpreters at a polling site in the neighborhood during the upcoming June primary elections.

On top of its existing translation services, the New York City Civic Engagement Commission (NYCCEC) is working with interpreters to offer 11 additional language options at polling sites across all five boroughs, including a site in Astoria that’s offering Italian interpreters on Election Day.

According to the commission, every poll site in Queens has interpreters that speak Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, and Punjabi, and some in Astoria also offer Arabic language services.

The Italian translation services in Astoria will be offered from 6:00 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day, June 22, at PS 85-Judge Charles Vallone, located at 23-70 31 Street.

Other Election Day and early voting sites in central Queens will offer interpreter services in Polish, Russian, and Italian.

The commission decided where to offer specific interpreter services, and in which languages to offer them, based on census data and data from the city’s Board of Elections, according to the NYCCEC.

News of the additional language services comes in the midst of the city’s $15 million outreach campaign to educate New Yorkers about ranked-choice voting.

This June will be the first time when a majority of New Yorkers use the voting system, where voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference.

Ranked-choice voting was first used in the city this March in a special election in Queens, where Selvena Brooks-Powers assumed the 31st District City Council seat after it was vacated by now-Borough President Donovan Richards.

“Here in New York City, we've been working to expand democracy constantly, make it easier for people to run for office, easier for them to get public financing, easier for people to participate, especially if they happen to speak another language,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in April, when he announced the launch of the ranked-choice voting education campaign.

Laura Wood, chief democracy officer at DemocracyNYC — a city initiative aimed at increasing voter participation and civic engagement — said that language access is central in ensuring that voting resources “reach all New York voters.”

In addition to the city’s translation services, all voters in New York have the right to bring an interpreter with them to polling sites.