Asian-American group alleges poll problems

Asian-American voters faced significant barriers at the ballot box during the November 2004 election in Lowell and Quincy, as well as in Boston, according to a survey by a national advocacy group that found complaints by minority voters were far more widespread than those outlined in a recent federal lawsuit against the city of Boston.

The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund documented numerous examples of voters who were turned away from the polls, denied access to translated materials, and insufficiently notified of their polling sites, according to letters the group sent to state and local elections officials last March and obtained by the Globe yesterday.

''Poll workers simply turned these voters away," the group said in a March letter to the office of Secretary of State William F. Galvin.

The New York-based group, which plans to detail nationwide voting problems faced by Asian-Americans during a press conference today, said it found voters at 11 polling stations in Boston, Quincy, and Lowell encountered ''multiple barriers" similar to those experienced by some black and Latino voters in Florida in 2000.

City and state elections officials said yesterday the problems had been addressed since the group sent its letters in March. The letters, however, provide new details of the allegations facing the city of Boston and show that other cities also experienced similar problems. The group sent its findings to the US Justice Department before the department filed a voting rights lawsuit against the city of Boston last month.

In Boston, home to about 19,000 Chinese-American and 10,000 Vietnamese-American voters, poll watchers interviewed about 500 Asian-Americans as they left five polling stations in Chinatown, Mission Hill, and Dorchester last November.

The survey found 10 voters who said they had been turned away because their names were not on the rolls and who were not offered provisional ballots as required by law. About 100 voters told interviewers that the polling stations lacked Chinese and Vietnamese ballot guides. And 62 voters had to show identification, a practice that raised questions about racial discrimination, said Glenn D. Magpantay, a lawyer for the group.

In Lowell, home to a burgeoning Cambodian population, poll monitors found similar problems outside four voting stations. Voters said they had been turned away and told to register in the next election; some were not given provisional ballots. Cambodian immigrants told of a lack of materials in Khmer, and some voters said Lowell did not adequately notify them of polling places. In one case, poll workers forbade a voter from bringing a friend inside the booth to translate, as permitted by law.

Similar problems surfaced in Quincy, home to a large Chinese community, where voters complained of a lack of translators at one polling station and of poll workers who failed to give provisional ballots to voters not on the rolls. Elections workers are required to offer a provisional ballot if they are uncertain the voter is registered; the ballot is counted if the voter's registration is later verified.

Statewide, the Asian-American population has grown by 68 percent since 1990, to about 250,000, the legal defense fund said.

To remedy the problems, the group recommended better training for poll workers, more signs in Asian languages, and more interpreters at polling stations.

Yesterday Galvin said that he met with the group in April, after it sent him a letter outlining the complaints, and that he pledged to make more signs and Asian-language ballot guides available to cities and towns. He said he believed they were satisfied.

''I'm very proud of the record we have of error-free elections, particular when compared to other states, but I can't respond to generalities, especially from people you've met with and tried to address," Galvin said. ''If there are no new issues, I don't know what else I can do. We've tried to reach out to them and address them."

However, Magpantay said yesterday he had not seen any new foreign-language materials printed by Galvin's office. He said he was also hoping for better training for poll workers and ballots printed in Asian languages, not just elections materials.

''I don't think there's anything we're demanding which could not be easily done," he said.

Geraldine Cuddyer, the chair of the Boston Election Department, acknowledged in a letter to the group last April that some problems had occurred during the November election.

She pledged to make more foreign-language signs available for September's preliminary elections and to follow up with election wardens about problems with provisional ballots.

Yesterday a spokesman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he was satisfied with the response.

''Every concern that has been raised with the Election Department, such as those concerns raised by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, or by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Bill Galvin, have been addressed by the Election Department," spokesman Seth Gitell said.

Since the November election, Quincy officials have boosted the number of Chinese translators there from six to 16, City Clerk Joseph Shea said. Shea pledged to make more Chinese-language materials available in future elections.

''I think we can do a better job, and we will do a better job," he said.

Lowell's top election officer disputed the group's account that voters were not notified of their polling station and said he had no evidence of voters who were denied provisional ballots. In many cases, it is up to voters to make sure they are properly registered and that they know where to vote, said Thomas A. Wirtanen, chairman of the Election Commission in Lowell.

''As long as I'm commissioner in the city of Lowell, every voter will have the chance to vote, and every vote will be counted," he said.