Procurement
Law Department (NYCLD)
LANGUAGERS INC
2 Park Ave. Ste 2018, New York, NY, 10016-5675
2 Park Ave. Ste 2018, New York, NY, 10016-5675
Services (other than human services)
Negotiated Acquisition
9/6/2022
Award
$46,758.53
PIN#02522N0041001
There was an urgency to contract with the contractor in order complete the translations of the Final Report of the RJC as soon as possible after they were approved by the Commission and submitted to the City Clerk was to permit the Commission to meet its obligations under both the Municipal Home Rule Law and the Voting Rights Act, as explained to us by the Law Department. It is true that in order to be voted on, the translations will be needed by the time the ballot is printed by the Board of Elections in the fall, but given the Commission's statutory obligation (under the MHRL) to educate New Yorkers about the ballot measures, these translations needed to be done in a much more expedited time frame than the fall. The education campaign has been underway since almost immediately after the Commission submitted its report to the City Clerk, thereby ensuring that their proposed ballot questions will be on the ballot in November 2022, and that campaign must be conducted and materials made available to New Yorkers who are from the 5 (soon to be 7) protected Voting Rights Act language communities just as they are to English-speaking voters.
Specifically, the Law Department has advised the Commission that under the VRA we must provide “any registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, ... in the language of the applicable minority group as well as in the English language." They have told us that this obligation is broadly interpreted by the DOJ to apply to all stages of the electoral process, including, for example, "the issuance, at any time during the year, of notifications, announcements or other informational materials concerning the opportunity to register, the deadline for voter registration, the time, places and subject matters of elections, and the absentee ballot process."
The Law Department has further advised us that they interpret the statute and DOJ guidance to mean that the RJC's ballot-related informational materials, flyers, advertisements, meeting documents, etc., must all be translated and provided in both English and the VRA languages in order to ensure that we are meeting our VRA obligations, regardless of how far away the actual election is. We understood this to mean that there was an urgency for us to translate all promotional and other materials relating to the ballot measures and abstracts into the 5 VRA languages, and into the likely 2 additional VRA languages that are expected to be added prior to the election so that they can be used in all materials, flyers, brochures, on the website, etc. In addition, the RJC's stated policy of being as inclusive as possible to all New Yorkers requires that we translate the materials into all of the languages identified in Local Law 30 (which include the VRA languages). As a result, the expedited translation request to our vendor included a request to translate the ballot questions and abstracts for us into all of the LL30 languages.
Specifically, the Law Department has advised the Commission that under the VRA we must provide “any registration or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, ... in the language of the applicable minority group as well as in the English language." They have told us that this obligation is broadly interpreted by the DOJ to apply to all stages of the electoral process, including, for example, "the issuance, at any time during the year, of notifications, announcements or other informational materials concerning the opportunity to register, the deadline for voter registration, the time, places and subject matters of elections, and the absentee ballot process."
The Law Department has further advised us that they interpret the statute and DOJ guidance to mean that the RJC's ballot-related informational materials, flyers, advertisements, meeting documents, etc., must all be translated and provided in both English and the VRA languages in order to ensure that we are meeting our VRA obligations, regardless of how far away the actual election is. We understood this to mean that there was an urgency for us to translate all promotional and other materials relating to the ballot measures and abstracts into the 5 VRA languages, and into the likely 2 additional VRA languages that are expected to be added prior to the election so that they can be used in all materials, flyers, brochures, on the website, etc. In addition, the RJC's stated policy of being as inclusive as possible to all New Yorkers requires that we translate the materials into all of the languages identified in Local Law 30 (which include the VRA languages). As a result, the expedited translation request to our vendor included a request to translate the ballot questions and abstracts for us into all of the LL30 languages.