State Senator Iwen Chu on Tuesday said she found a typo in the Chinese language ballot request application and has alerted the Board of Election (BOE), urging them to correct the error to maintain the integrity of the mail-in voting process.
On the English version, line 4 asks “county where you live.” However, in the Chinese translation version, it says “country,” instead of “county," according to a press release.
“This kind of mistake should never have happened and should never happen again,” said Chu. “With new voices being registered every day, and the Chinese vote being a prominent and growing bloc, we need to make sure that all votes are processed smoothly. Our community cannot afford this kind of mistake. Our collective voice is crucial, and our voting rights must be protected.”
Mail-in voting for the November elections begins next month. Senator Chu raised the issue with the BOE on August 6, calling for the immediate correction of this mistake, an update to the online Chinese application form and the reprinting of the physical copies accordingly, the press release said.
The New York State Board of Elections corrected the error and disseminated a new version of the form, a spokesperson from the BOE said.
"While we very much regret any error and confusion it may have caused, the State Board took immediate action as soon as it was brought to our attention," the spokesperson said through an email statement.
This article has was updated on August 13 to correct errors made in the original press release.
