Updates: Operation Meth Merchant, Voting Woes

Melissa Hung
February 9, 2006

Now, in 23 of the cases people are pleading guilty. Interestingly, many of those putting in a guilty plea are undocumented. Which means they are up for deportation. Which means, in practical terms, why fight it if you're just going to be deported? (Pleading guilty gets you a lesser sentence.)

  • Four Asian American organizations sued the New York City Board of Elections on Monday. Why? A whole bunch of problems with voting access for Asian Americans who don't speak English well. Polling places lacked translated materials; voting machines were being shut down early; when there were translated materials, the candidates' names were translated wrong; and people were turned away from polling places.

    The good folks at Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (one of the organizations filing suit) have been keeping tabs on problems and reporting them to the Board of Elections, but not always getting a response.

    As we reported in Issue 5 of Hyphen, Asian Americans have low voter participation, lower than other minority groups. With all the barriers people face at the polls, no wonder. I'm not saying that's the only reason that people don't exercise their right to vote, but it certainly creates another hurdle where there shouldn't be one.

    • Contributor: 

    Melissa Hung

    Founding Editor

    Melissa Hung is the founding editor of Hyphen. She was editor in chief for the magazine's first five years and went on to serve in many other leadership roles on the staff and board for more than a decade. A writer and freelance journalist, Melissa has written for NPR, Vogue, Pacific Standard, Longreads, and Catapult. She grew up in Texas, the eldest child of immigrants.

    Comments

    Comments

    rage wrote on Sun, 02/12/2006 - 7:40am
    There's some interesting dialogue about this going on at Sepia Mutiny, especially around one particular group's response.