Under a proposal made by the influential chair of the Senate's Finance Committee, all cities in the state with a population of over one million will be required to translate all ballots and other election materials into Russian. 

In an interview, Senator Kruger said, "We want to raise voter awareness in the Russian-speaking community. The translation of election materials into Russian is the best way to achieve this goal. Otherwise, tens of thousands of people, especially the elderly, will continue to go to the polls without fully understanding the procedure, having registered as required, or knowing anything about the candidates and their political views. For the first time in the history of New York State and the United States, the Russian language may become one of the official languages of the election system. For this to happen, the bill must be approved by the Assembly and signed by the governor. It was not easy to get this bill through the Senate, but we succeeded. It is my hope that election materials will be available in Russian on the Internet and print brochures in time for the primary elections in September." 

The bill's first two sponsors were William Colton and Alec Brook-Krasny, Assembly members representing parts of Brooklyn. Brook-Krasny, who is the first Russian-speaking representative in the State Legislature, said, "This is a historic event. The bill has the support of a sufficient number of politicians; however, the government of New York City is against it. City Hall is resisting it because it claims the bill is expensive and that it will open Pandora's Box. They say that if materials are translated into Russian, then they will have to be translated into another 170 languages. Supporters of the bill have explained that the Russian-speaking community is the third largest ethnic group in New York after the Spanish-speaking and Chinese-speaking communities." 

Translations into Russian are especially important for those who know English well enough to pass the citizenship exam, but not to understand the technical language of election materials. The Assembly has passed the bill twice, but the bill never succeeded in reaching the Senate floor for a general vote until it was introduced by Sen. Kruger and approved by a majority. We are very thankful to the Senator for his efforts over several years on behalf of this bill. Now there is hope that the bill will be passed by the Assembly and signed into law by the governor.  

I would like to add that the bill is not only important for those who do not quite understand what is written in election documents. It is also important that more and more politicians are recognizing that the Russian-speaking community is becoming a serious political force in New York. From insiders, we see fragmentation among various Russian-speaking groups, but from outside, our community looks like a single organism: to Americans, we are all Russians. This is the first bill that was forced through successfully, even with strong resistance from City Hall. However, Mayor Bloomberg is now prepared to take our side.  

According to Brook-Krasny, Brooklyn legislators Sen. Marty Golden (R) and Assembly members Helene Weinstein (D) and Steven Cymbrowitz (D) lent their active support to the bill.  

Every year during elections, the voting activist Inna Kosaya helps Russian-speaking citizens understand voting rules. "This will help people who do not know English that well. Now they can read the ballot in Russian before entering the voting booth and carefully determine who they will vote for and what party that candidate is from. And what his first and last names are. And then they can vote for their choice." 

It is nice to realize that while we may have opponents in New York political circles, we are also gaining more and more supporters.